Mildred Smith Sobierajski

By Lori Kerns | Librarian

Mildred Smith Sobierajski was born in 1921 in the state of West Virginia. Both her parents were farmers but her father was also a Baptist minister and her mother a school teacher. Mildred was the fifth of eight children born to the couple. Growing up in a rural area, she and her siblings attended school in a one-room schoolhouse. Her teachers through the years were usually family members like her brother or cousin. Once Mildred graduated, she stayed home for about a year to help her mother earn money to pay for her father’s medical expenses. After that, she was hired to work for Western Electric until WWII broke out.

Mildred made the decision to follow three of her siblings’ footsteps and join the war effort, with another sibling to follow. In 1943, she volunteered for the Navy and became a member of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). Most of her time was spent working the switchboard until she finished her duty in 1945. After the war, she went back to work for Western Electric.

In her spare time, Mildred bowled on one of Western Electric’s bowling teams. This is how she met Felix, a teammate and fellow veteran who had also served in WWII. He had been in the Army and was part of the outfit that was in the second wave of the invasion of Normandy. The couple fell in love and married on February 12, 1949.

The Sobierajskis lived in the Baltimore, Maryland area and worked for Western Electric for over 40 years until they retired. Felix and Mildred enjoyed their retirement by traveling. They would spend their winter months in Florida then decided to spend them in Hawaii. Eventually they bought a house on the island of Oahu and enjoyed paradise for five years before moving to Florida. Sadly, Felix passed away in 1997. The couple had enjoyed 48 years of marriage.

Mildred made the decision to move to AFRH-G in 2011. She had volunteered for several years working in the Lord’s Cabin. Now she enjoys her time listening to books on her Talking Books machine. Mildred has a monumental milestone coming up. She will be turning 100 years “young” this October!