Meet Mildred, Anchorage's Newest Street

Well, probably newest street sign might be more accurate.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't up this morning.  Mildred Place is named after Mildred Nash who came to Anchorage with her husband RD.  They'd grown up in Texarkana picking cotton.  Got married and then moved to California.  And then drove up to Anchorage.

We moved in across the street from the Nashes in the late 70s.  They'd been here since the 50's when our side of the street was all woods and they would tell us of seeing bears now and then.  We learned a lot about the history of Anchorage from them.  My basic bread recipe is also from Mrs. Nash.  It's still on our refrigerator door in her handwriting, just so I don't leave an ingredient out. 

 Mr. Nash died in 1989 or 90 - while my family was with me on sabbatical to Hong Kong.  This picture was taken by my daughter when Mrs. Nash was in her 80s.  There's an audio tape too which I'll try to put up in a future post. 


Mrs. Nash was the best neighbor you could ever want.  We laughed a lot together.  When she was 87 her cancer returned and this time she couldn't fight it off.  Friends from church were organized and a different person stayed with her each day and her son and her dog Ebony were always nearby.  Ebony, a tiny little dog, slept on her bed with her.  My job was to sneak in her favorite foods and to make her laugh.  It wasn't long before she was giggling whenever she saw my face.  What a great pleasure it was to be able to put a smile on the face of my dying friend. 






Nash Place is just a block long, starting along Mrs. Nash's property where her son still lives today.

The alley's been there forever.  But as I understand it, a new duplex was built with its 'streetside' facing the alley, and they petitioned to have the alley made into a street.  Here's the only address on Mildred Place.  






This is one 'new' street that I totally approve of.  It actually has been around for at least 40 years, it was left unpaved just as it's been, and it was given a name that honors a woman who lived next door and made the lives of all the people in the neighborhood sunnier.

What a great way to remember a great member of the Anchorage community.