A photo of Alice Mildred (Wilson) Hawkins

Alice Mildred (Wilson) Hawkins 1900 - 1991

Alice M (Wilson) Hawkins of Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS was born on July 2, 1900 in Burlingame, Osage County to Delbert Cuyler Wilson and Daisy Carrie Wilson. She had siblings Leanore Kemmerer, Inez Mae, EvaLee, Clark Wilson, and Roy Wilson. She married Oscar Henry (Mike) Hawkins, and had children Alice Joan (Jody) Hawkins, Judith Ann Hawkins, and Susan Jane Hawkins. Alice Hawkins died at age 90 years old on April 6, 1991 in Kansas City, Wyandotte County, and was buried on April 6, 1991 at Cremation ashes scattered in Mayday Colorado in Mayday, , Colorado USA.

Alice M (Wilson) Hawkins

Kansas City, Wyandotte County, KS 66102

July 2, 1900

Burlingame, Osage County, Kansas, 66413, United States

April 6, 1991

Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas, United States

Female

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Jody Chenoweth

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01/15/2015

Mom...Alice Mildred Wilson...was born July 2, 1900 in Burlingame KS. Daughter of Delbert Cuyler and Daisy Carrie Wilson. She had an older sister, Leanore; two younger sisters; Inez (Bunt) and Eva Lee (Toots) and two younger brothers, Clark and Roy.
The family was poor and when they couldn’t pay the rent were forced to move several times,
piling their belongings on a farm wagon pulled by two big work horses. One move was in very cold weather….from Edgerton to Overland Park. Leanore and Mom were very young.
Horses were a very important part of Del’s being able to take care of his family so when they finally arrived in Overland Park, Del left the family on the wagon while he unhitched the horses, fed them, rubbed them down and put them in the barn. Eventually the Wilsons bought a couple of acres south of Overland and Del built a house. A small house for a large family but it was theirs and they would never be forced to move again.
Del was very strict with his wife and kids. They were forbidden to say certain words. Words like arms or legs...which had to be called limbs; a bull was a male bovine and a stallion a male horse. He wouldn’t let the girls wear red as ‘that was what hussies wore.’ Grandma Daisy had to dye some of Mom’s red socks so they looked almost black. Daisy was very sweet natured and gentle. She made all of the kid’s clothing and baked six loaves of bread every day.
Del got mean when he drank and would beat Mom’s little bothers. He never hit the girls but Mom confessed once that she hated her Dad when he was being mean to Clark and Roy. This is why she despised all kinds of alcohol and later would pour any liquor or beer Daddy brought home, down the drain. Mom also hated chewing tobacco as it was her job when a
little girl to empty and clean her Dad’s spittoon every day.
Grandpa Del was a blacksmith and cabinet maker but didn’t make a very good living and they never had extra money for Christmas so all the kids each got was an orange, a nickel Big Chiefs tablet and a box of Crayolas split up so each child got only two crayons. One Christmas they didn’t have much to eat until a big bird crashed into their bedroom window, breaking its neck and the glass in the window. Mom didn’t remember what kind of bird it was, maybe a duck or a goose but she believed God provided it for her family.
As Mom got older and needed a little spending money she and her sisters picked strawberries at a fruit farm down the road from their place. They made 25 cents a crate (24 boxes). Mom graduated from Overland Park ‘common school’ in 1915 at 14. When 15, she moved to Denison KS and lived with the Van Nice family and attended Denison High School (Mr. Van Nice was the Superintendent). She graduated from Dennison High and from 1919 to 1921 taught at Mulanax...a one room, rock schoolhouse set in the middle of a prairie. (salary $85) Mom then moved Olathe and in ‘21-’22 (again teaching grades one through eight) at Mount Zion. (salary $100). She quit teaching, moved to Kansas City and got a job at Pecks Dept Store. Her older sister Leanore and younger sister Iny also worked there. Both of them were married but Mom didn’t get married until 1928.
In 1925, at a Halloween Party, Mom met Daddy, (Mike Hawkins). He would tell the story of how she came as a ghost under a sheet with eye holes cut out. All he could see were her beautiful brown eyes. He said he knew right then that he wanted to marry her and finally got up enough nerve to ask her for a date. She accepted and they got along good and had a lot of fun together. One date turned into many and they went fishing on the Kaw River; swimming at Bean Lake; to the Pantages Theater in KC. Mo; to the horse races in Riverside, to Fairyland Park, Swope Park, and had picnics by the banks of Indian Creek.
On Jan. 21, 1928, Mom and Daddy were married and moved in with Daddy’s mother, Maude Ferguson Hawkins, at 1232 Waverly, KCK. The summer of 1928 Mom and Daddy took a Western states vacation in their old touring car.
Also in the summer of 1931 they visited Gage Oklahoma with Grandma Maude and two of Daddy’s sisters, Beulah White and Pauline Greer and their families.
On Sept 10th, 1930 at Bethany Hospital, K.C.K, a daughter, was born. She was named Alice Joan after Mom and Joan of Arc but Mom soon started calling her Jody.
The summer of 1931, Mom, Daddy, baby Joan and Maude took a trip to California to visit Maude’s relatives. While there Mom and Daddy went with a ’real estate shark’ to Palo Alto to look at property that was for sale. It was too high priced for them and they decided not to buy.
Jobs were scarce but Daddy came from a long line of printers and he got a good job at the Kansas City Star. His mother, Maude and his father Harry Hawkins, had worked for the Gage, OK. newspaper. In 1932 Daddy rented a house at 3432 Webster, KCK, and they lived there until 1934 when Daddy made money in the stock market and bought a house at 1857 N 30th, KCK. Mom became a member of the Chelsea Christian Church and taught church school.
Every summer, starting in 1933, Mom and Daddy vacationed in Colorado where Daddy prospected for gold .
When Mom’s mamma, Daisy, died in 1940, Mom was very sad and at the age of 40 she and daddy decided to start another family. Judith Ann was born in 1941 and Susan Jane in 1944. For the rest of their lives, Mom and Daddy continued to spend their summers in Colorado where Daddy continued prospecting for gold and staked out many mining claims. Mom loved Colorado but she would say, “Kansas is always first in my heart”. Sunflowers were her favorite flowers along with her mamma’s namesake flower, the Daisy.
One cannot write a story about Mom without mentioning her love affair with Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. She adored them, collected them and made her own; large ones, small ones, tiny ones...ones needing repair and new out-of-the-box ones. All were loved by Mom and she could never pass one up when she would find one at a garage sale or thrift shop.
In 1963, after all three daughters had married and left home, Daddy retired from the KC Star and he and Mom sold the house on 30th street and moved to Mayday, Colorado. They became Snowbirds, spending their winters in Wickenburg, Arizona and their summers in Mayday Colorado. The government wanted to clear all the cabins off of government land in Mayday but Daddy put up such a fight they agreed not to demolish his and Mom’s cabin as long as he was alive.
Daddy died at age 79, in a Wickenburg hospital, May, 1980. The Mayday cabin was razed and burned. Mom stayed on in Wickenburg. She had a really good friend named Bud. Almost everyday they played dominoes or had cook outs on the dessert. In 1987, Susy, Jody and Judy flew to Wickenburg to help Mom get things sold. She said goodbye to friends and flew back to Kansas City and moved in with Susy. Mom lived to be 90+. She died April 6, 1991.
Mom’s and Daddy’s ashes were taken to Mayday. The cabin was gone but the little blue spruce in front of where the cabin had been was still there and had now grown into a tall beautiful tree. Mom and Daddy’s ashes were spread around its base. Now they are together near a place they both loved...their cabin in Mayday Colorado.

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Alice Mildred (Wilson) Hawkins 1900 - 1991

Alice M (Wilson) Hawkins' History: 1900 - 1991

Birthday

Ethnicity & Family History

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Early Life & Education

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Death

Gravesite & Burial

3 Memories, Stories & Photos about Alice

Alice Wilson's Family Tree & Friends

Alice Wilson's Family Tree

Oscar Henry (Mike) Hawkins

Alice Mildred (Wilson) Hawkins

Alice's Friends

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