Mildred C. Dunn

RANDOLPH — Funeral Services for Mildred C. Dunn, 105, Randolph, were Feb. 18, at St John’s Lutheran Church, Randolph. Dick Bloomquist, PMA and Dwight Brummels, PMA co-officiated.

Burial will be in the Theophilus Cemetery in rural Winside.

Visitation was one hour prior to services at the church. The service was also live-streamed on the funeral home’s website.

Home for Funerals-Randolph is in charge of arrangements.

Mildred died Feb. 12, 2022, at the Colonial Manor and Estates, Randolph.

Mildred Clara Wittler was born Nov. 7, 1916, in Randolph, to William Henry and Mary Magdeline (Kruse) Wittler. She attended Theophilus United Church of Christ, Winside, and Distict 29 North in Wayne County. Following school, Mildred worked as a housekeeper for different families in the Winside area. She then worked as a waitress for her uncle, Ed Wittler, in Cook, for two years. She moved to Sutherland, Iowa, and worked for a year at the Wilburn Café. In 1941, she moved to California, and in very short order secured a job as a waitress at the original Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. About the same time she moved to California, she began a Pen Pal relationship with a WWII soldier, Joseph Wilburn Dunn. They corresponded for several years and eventually met and married June 10, 1944, in El Paso, Texas. Mildred returned to the Fairmont Hotel to work and Joseph completed his service in 1945 and then moved to San Francisco to be with her. She continued to work at the coffee shop at the Fairmont until she retired in 1980, when she returned to Randolph to live near more of her family members.

Mildred loved the small town life of Randolph, surrounded by family and friends. She continued her passion of traveling, mostly to see family throughout the United States. Her favorite thing to do was go to the Randolph Senior Center for dinner and then play cards or Bingo. To keep herself busy in the evenings, she bowled in a league and either knitted or crocheted in front of her TV.

Mildred was a member of St John’s Lutheran Church. She was an avid quilter with the Quilting Ladies at St. John’s, and especially enjoyed quilting baby blocks for them to piece together and did equally as many for family. She belonged to a Women’s Circle Bible Study Group and helped with many a funeral well into her 90s. Proud of her husband’s service to the U.S., she was an active member of the V.F.W. Auxiliary, Randolph.

Mildred was a kind, gentle soul and always grateful to be surrounded by family and friends. She routinely hosted family gatherings at Hilltop and loved to go there for Sunday Dinner with friends as well.

She is survived by her nieces and nephews, and her great-nieces and great-nephews.

Mildred was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Joseph, in 1976; all her sisters and brothers and their spouses, Lucille (Melvin) Jenkins and Lorene (Alfred) Patent, and Elmer (Bernice) Wittler and Ervin (Margaret) Wittler.