Tribute

Mildred Deife was born November 19, 1921 at the family home in Tucker Prairie near Cheney to Thomas Clifford and Julia Teresa Smith. She attended Cheney Elementary and at the age of 12 left home and boarded with a family in Cheney where she attended High School. In 1938, at age 16, she graduated and entered Holy Names College, in Spokane. She graduated from Holy Names College at age 19 with a teaching degree and began her career in education at the school in Mohler. She taught there one year then moved to Odessa, where she taught for the next three years.

While attending a Grange dance, she me...