Kalispell woman reaches 100-year mark
Mildred Hadley Morrison, a longtime resident of Kalispell, turns 100 on Monday, April 26.
Her daughter Charlotte Baker who lives in Pennsylvania said the family hopes that her friends will create “a card shower” to honor her as she joins the ranks of Montana’s centenarians.
A recent hospitalization and health problems make it difficult to have a larger celebration for Mildred, who was born in 1910 in Fullerton, Neb. Her mother died when Mildred was 9 months old, so she was raised by her grandparents and then her dad and stepmother.
Baker said her mother attended country schools and was proud of winning the country spelling bee in the eighth grade. She earned her beautician’s license in 1932 and purchased a beauty shop.
On June 11, 1933, she married Frank J. Morrison in her hometown. Her new husband worked for Iowa-Nebraska Light and Power.
The couple had their first child, Charlotte, in 1935. The next year, she and Frank moved to Kalispell during the height of the Depression.
“Jobs were scarce so they picked apples that fall and did odd jobs to get themselves through the winter,” Charlotte said.
Things looked up in the spring when Frank got a mechanic job with Flathead Motor Sales Co., the local Chevrolet dealer. The couple purchased their first home in Kalispell in 1937.
“A large garden was planted each year and mother canned the vegetables for good winter eating,” Charlotte recalled.
Her baby brother, John, joined the family in 1939.
The outbreak of World War II brought more changes to their lives when Frank went to California to help the war effort by working first in shipyards and then in the Oakland Hall Scott plant building PT boat motors.
Charlotte still remembers the thrill of riding the train when she, her mother and brother traveled to join him in California. When the war was winding down in the summer of 1944, the family loaded their possessions on a homemade trailer and headed back to their home in Kalispell.
“We arrived on Labor Day weekend, in time for me to start the fourth grade,” Charlotte said. “Dad went to work for the Intermountain Bus Company as a mechanic.”
In 1945, the family moved to a larger home in Kalispell where Morrison Service Garage was built on the back of the lot and opened in 1946.
“Business was booming at the time and it was soon apparent that the garage needed to be enlarged,” Charlotte said. “It doubled in size in 1949.”
Mildred played an active role in the business. She kept the books and expedited parts from local stores.
“She was always willing to help,” Charlotte said.
By 1953, the family was doing well enough to buy a large farmstead on 20 acres about 4 miles from town where they raised a few cows, quite a few chickens and a bounty of vegetables for the freezer.
“Mom had no trouble selling her home-grown fryers,” she recalled.
According to Charlotte, her father went home for lunch everyday and often brought home a customer with him without warning Mildred.
“She just set the table with the extra needed place setting,” Charlotte said. “It was all right with her!”
Her mother was just as welcoming to the friends that she and her brother brought home. Charlotte said her friends often commented that they wished their mothers were more like hers.
She remembers many happy days at the farm, where her mother displayed a real talent for landscaping.
“Mom had a beautiful yard with a lot of flowers and trees transplanted from the woods,” she said.
In 1973, her father sold the property that held his shop to a bank. He disassembled the building and moved it to the farm where he could work on a few cars, tinker and store equipment.
Her mom and dad bought a pickup and camper to enjoy traveling together in retirement.
“They even took a trip to Alaska with their lifelong friends, Darrell and Adeline Logan in 1983 — a dream come true for both couples,” Charlotte said.
Mildred and Frank downsized in 1991 to a small home in Kalispell with a large yard and a great view of the mountains out their front room window. She still maintained a beautiful yard full of flowers and a small vegetable garden.
Frank died in 1992. In 1995, Mildred moved into Prestige Assisted Living where she still keeps houseplants to nurture.
Charlotte said her mother loves to give Dexter, the resident puppy, rides on the seat of her walker.
“He’s a lot of company for her — it’s a mutual love between the two,” she said Mildred’s family includes Charlotte and her husband Tom, five grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. Her son John died in 2008.
(100th birthday cards may be sent to: Mildred Morrison, 125 Glenwood Drive, #109, Kalispell, MT 5990)
Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com