Mildred Lord Rice and William Roger Rice biographies and photos
Mildred Lord Rice and William Roger Rice
Mildred Lord Rice was born December 8, 1899, to Burt G. and Ellen Smith. Her older brother George Earl Lord was born on August 23, 1897. They were born in Northampton, Massachusetts. When George was in kindergarten or first grade, he came home from school to find his mother dead on the floor and his sister Millie sitting by her side and crying. Their father had vanished. George took his sister and ran to neighbors who called the authorities. The two children were taken to an orphanage perhaps in Boston. George was six and Millie was two. They were placed in a home either in Lynn, Swampscott, or South Salem. The man of Polish descent owned a drugstore, drank and beat the children. The woman was nicer. School authorities noticed indications of mistreatment and removed the children.
Lena Whittsley Adams (b. August 16) and her husband (Earle?) wanted to foster George so he could help on the farm, but he threatened to run away even if they beat him if they didn’t take Mildred as well. The two young chldren attended school in Georgetown in the building that is now a town hall. George worked on the farm. One chore was leading the cows to a nearby pond before school while Mildred helped with house chores. They both worked hard and were treated kindly. Mr. and Mrs. Adams also ran a dance studio and taught ballroom dancing. The studio might have been in Salem, Massachusetts. George was a wonderful dancer and when he grew older, he also taught dancing. The Adams fostered George and Mildred and adopted Anne Phyllis, who might have been the illegitimate daughter of Mr. Adams. George and Mildred went to school through fifth grade.
Mildred and George brought their children to the farm. George helped his foster paint and repair the house, mow the lawn, while his wife baked for them. They had a goat named Esmeralda. Lena and her companion Mr. Haskell attended George’s daughter (Helen)’s wedding. George took care them into their old age. Gramma Adams had a big library and encouraged Mildred’s daughter, Millie, to read and report on the books. She gave Millie a moonstone ring, which Millie gave to Cathy Eaton. Millie’s remembers refusing to eat a pet rabbit that had died even though Gramma Adams told her it was chicken. George’s first married Catherine Hennessey and later Alice Flynn. His daughter Helen married Paul Dube, and they had three daughters: Paula M, Suzanne H, and Kathryn (Kate) LeGere.
Mildred married William Roger Rice (b. 1878) after his first wife died in Easton, Maryland. He had a son or possibly two in Maryland. Walter believes one became a fire fighter and one a police officer. His father William Roger Rice was from Wales. Mildred was 23 or 26 and William was about 42 when they married. They had five children: Millie, Roger Williams Rice, Evelyn Phyllis Rice (McCleary), Barbara Alta Rice, and Walter Earl Rice. William worked at the MBTA elevated T as a blacksmith mechanic. Millie and Walter remember him as being a smart, quiet, tall man who had few friends and wasn’t very social. Walter and Millie recalled him being mean when he drank. Walter remembers that they had a tense relationship. His favorite past time was listening to the Red Sox on the family radio while smoking a pipe. He always read the newspapers. They lived in an apartment in Charlestown, which was fed by steam and owned by the mayor of Cambridge. After Walter was badly burned by the radiator, William helped everyone in the building convert their coal or wood stoves to oil. Williams’s best friend was Dave Landry whose wife Evelyn(Mimi) was great friends with Mildred. If Mildred didn’t have enough food for the children, Mimi would always help out and give them from her minimal food supplies. Possibly William died in bar fight.
Mildred was outgoing and loved people. Her children said she didn’t boast. She loved wallpapering and painting. If the roof had a hole, she was up on the patching it. Mildred passed her work ethic and ability to fix anything to her daughter, Millie. Mildred worked cleaning houses and also had a job at a hospital. She was ingenious with her hands and enjoyed making things.
Mildred made sure the children went to camp and had clothes. She got them a new suit and a pair of shoes at Easter, which had to last the whole year. Millie had to polish her shoes white and Walter had to polish his dark shoes. They got their shoes from Morgan Memorial, a social fraternal organization. The shoes were re-heeled and resoled. When the shoes got holes, the kids cut out cardboard the right size and put it under their socks. Walter remembers being happy to get his first long pair of pants one Easter and not having to wear knickers. One traumatic event was when Walter was severely scolded by boiling water from a burst radiator. Mildred took him to the town hall where Whitey Bolger was and got medical assistance for him.
They moved to Woburn and had five acres. Mildred tilled one half acre and had a root cellar where she put up canned peaches, apples, and blue Hubbard squash. She owned chickens and slaughtered them. Mildred worked hard in her garden to supplement store-bought food. They always had enough food even if was macaroni and cheese or beans. There were never many toys. Mildred, who rarely went to church, made sure her children attended church. There was a summer kitchen shed where there was an old fashion stove where Mildred began canning in late July. Walter remembered a larger copper kettle boiler with metal racks that had quart jars. Mildred might can 350 to 500 jars each season.
Walter recounted a story about Evelyn finding her mother, when she was older, on top of refrigerator leaning out the window to clean it. Evelyn yelled at her because she might have fallen out the window. Millie and Walter laughed because they said Mildred would have died happy.
After William died in 1942, Mildred began living with her friend Mimi from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and together they worked at Woolworths in David Square in Somerville.. At one point she had a boyfriend that Millie remembered as being snotty. Walter remembered him always wearing a suit. The grandchildren were afraid to drive with Mildred. When Mildred came to visit her children, she would strip her bed and get her suitcase and put it by the front door when she was ready to go home. When she came to visit, she brought sliced ham and sliced crab even when she couldn’t afford it. One day she painted Steve Murphy’s Adirondack chairs bright orange and yellow.
William Roger and Mildred Smith Lord Rice had five children.
Roger Williams Rice worked at First National Grocery store during high school. He’d bring home cardboard boxes of food. Roger illiams Rice, died in WW II. First he was in the Merchant Marines and then he was in the Air Force. His plane was shot down on September 16, 1944. For a while he was missing in action. Eventually he was buried in a US military Cemetery in St. Avold, France. Roger had a friend named Bill Moore, wealthy friend from Harvard. They met through fellowship at church, St. John’s Episcopol in Charleston. Bill was tall, skinny, and handsome like Gary Cooper. Mrs. Moore sent down payment for a house in Woburn out of Bill’s pension. After Bill died, a notary came. After Roger died, they received $25 or $50 a month. The family was related to the Pulitzer family.
Mildred Anna Rice (3.30.1926-9.10.11)married Steve Murphy (6.16.1916-2.8.1984). They were married on November 3, 1950. Steve worked as a baker. They had two children: Michael James and Stephen Vincent. Millie miscarried five children. See sections on Millie Murphy and Steve Murphy.. Also see Millie’s Memorial Service.
Walter Earl Rice (4.24.1928-2.1.2012) went to Gordon Bible College. He married Audrey Doris Rice January 1, 1951.. Walter taught elementary school, was a principal, and a minister. They lived in New York and South Carolina. They had two children: Kenneth Wayne who married Lorraine (four children: Stephen, Laura, Andrew, and Gregory Cooper); Linda who married ? Chase. They had two children: Justin Adam and Alexandra (Allie) Lauren.
Walter remembers his senior year in high schools. I had Spanish a couple of years. They put me in totally all girls’ Spanish class and I loved it. The teacher would say, “Now girls, and one gentleman.” Walter and his family moved to Audrey’s home town in Port Jeff. Audrey, her brother Bill graduated, Ali and Justin all graduated from Port Jeff High School. For years voted one of best 100 schools in nation.
Evelyn Phyllis Rice McCleary (9.18.1929-8.2.2016). Millie said Evelyn used to like to make up stories. She married Jim McCleary (6.28.1929-7.11.2016, who was a truck driver. They were married on Novemver 11, 1950. They lived in Medford, Massachusetts. They had four children: Jimmy who married Val, Roger who married Mary Beth, Cathy who married Eddie, and David who lived with his parents until he died..
Barbara Alta Rice, died of pancreatic cancer and had an illegitimate daughter, who came to Mildred’s funeral. Only Millie and Mildred knew about her. Millie said Barbara was slow and lax. Barbara and her husband had 8 children: his children, her children, and their children. She received social security.
Mildred was very proud to go to Michael Murphy’ s graduation at Hamilton College. She was thrilled to meet Danny Kaye, who was very gracious toward her. Michael was her first grandchild to go to college. She had 14 grandchildren. Toward the end of her life, Mildred was crushed when she had to give up driving her car at 85. She cried because she had lost her independence. At the end of her life, she was rail thin.
At her funeral, Walter was the minister, and there was an open casket. Mildred was a gutsy hard working woman who took good care of her family and who was fiercely independent.
Mildred Lord Rice was born December 8, 1899, to Burt G. and Ellen Smith. Her older brother George Earl Lord was born on August 23, 1897. They were born in Northampton, Massachusetts. When George was in kindergarten or first grade, he came home from school to find his mother dead on the floor and his sister Millie sitting by her side and crying. Their father had vanished. George took his sister and ran to neighbors who called the authorities. The two children were taken to an orphanage perhaps in Boston. George was six and Millie was two. They were placed in a home either in Lynn, Swampscott, or South Salem. The man of Polish descent owned a drugstore, drank and beat the children. The woman was nicer. School authorities noticed indications of mistreatment and removed the children.
Lena Whittsley Adams (b. August 16) and her husband (Earle?) wanted to foster George so he could help on the farm, but he threatened to run away even if they beat him if they didn’t take Mildred as well. The two young chldren attended school in Georgetown in the building that is now a town hall. George worked on the farm. One chore was leading the cows to a nearby pond before school while Mildred helped with house chores. They both worked hard and were treated kindly. Mr. and Mrs. Adams also ran a dance studio and taught ballroom dancing. The studio might have been in Salem, Massachusetts. George was a wonderful dancer and when he grew older, he also taught dancing. The Adams fostered George and Mildred and adopted Anne Phyllis, who might have been the illegitimate daughter of Mr. Adams. George and Mildred went to school through fifth grade.
Mildred and George brought their children to the farm. George helped his foster paint and repair the house, mow the lawn, while his wife baked for them. They had a goat named Esmeralda. Lena and her companion Mr. Haskell attended George’s daughter (Helen)’s wedding. George took care them into their old age. Gramma Adams had a big library and encouraged Mildred’s daughter, Millie, to read and report on the books. She gave Millie a moonstone ring, which Millie gave to Cathy Eaton. Millie’s remembers refusing to eat a pet rabbit that had died even though Gramma Adams told her it was chicken. George’s first married Catherine Hennessey and later Alice Flynn. His daughter Helen married Paul Dube, and they had three daughters: Paula M, Suzanne H, and Kathryn (Kate) LeGere.
Mildred married William Roger Rice (b. 1878) after his first wife died in Easton, Maryland. He had a son or possibly two in Maryland. Walter believes one became a fire fighter and one a police officer. His father William Roger Rice was from Wales. Mildred was 23 or 26 and William was about 42 when they married. They had five children: Millie, Roger Williams Rice, Evelyn Phyllis Rice (McCleary), Barbara Alta Rice, and Walter Earl Rice. William worked at the MBTA elevated T as a blacksmith mechanic. Millie and Walter remember him as being a smart, quiet, tall man who had few friends and wasn’t very social. Walter and Millie recalled him being mean when he drank. Walter remembers that they had a tense relationship. His favorite past time was listening to the Red Sox on the family radio while smoking a pipe. He always read the newspapers. They lived in an apartment in Charlestown, which was fed by steam and owned by the mayor of Cambridge. After Walter was badly burned by the radiator, William helped everyone in the building convert their coal or wood stoves to oil. Williams’s best friend was Dave Landry whose wife Evelyn(Mimi) was great friends with Mildred. If Mildred didn’t have enough food for the children, Mimi would always help out and give them from her minimal food supplies. Possibly William died in bar fight.
Mildred was outgoing and loved people. Her children said she didn’t boast. She loved wallpapering and painting. If the roof had a hole, she was up on the patching it. Mildred passed her work ethic and ability to fix anything to her daughter, Millie. Mildred worked cleaning houses and also had a job at a hospital. She was ingenious with her hands and enjoyed making things.
Mildred made sure the children went to camp and had clothes. She got them a new suit and a pair of shoes at Easter, which had to last the whole year. Millie had to polish her shoes white and Walter had to polish his dark shoes. They got their shoes from Morgan Memorial, a social fraternal organization. The shoes were re-heeled and resoled. When the shoes got holes, the kids cut out cardboard the right size and put it under their socks. Walter remembers being happy to get his first long pair of pants one Easter and not having to wear knickers. One traumatic event was when Walter was severely scolded by boiling water from a burst radiator. Mildred took him to the town hall where Whitey Bolger was and got medical assistance for him.
They moved to Woburn and had five acres. Mildred tilled one half acre and had a root cellar where she put up canned peaches, apples, and blue Hubbard squash. She owned chickens and slaughtered them. Mildred worked hard in her garden to supplement store-bought food. They always had enough food even if was macaroni and cheese or beans. There were never many toys. Mildred, who rarely went to church, made sure her children attended church. There was a summer kitchen shed where there was an old fashion stove where Mildred began canning in late July. Walter remembered a larger copper kettle boiler with metal racks that had quart jars. Mildred might can 350 to 500 jars each season.
Walter recounted a story about Evelyn finding her mother, when she was older, on top of refrigerator leaning out the window to clean it. Evelyn yelled at her because she might have fallen out the window. Millie and Walter laughed because they said Mildred would have died happy.
After William died in 1942, Mildred began living with her friend Mimi from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and together they worked at Woolworths in David Square in Somerville.. At one point she had a boyfriend that Millie remembered as being snotty. Walter remembered him always wearing a suit. The grandchildren were afraid to drive with Mildred. When Mildred came to visit her children, she would strip her bed and get her suitcase and put it by the front door when she was ready to go home. When she came to visit, she brought sliced ham and sliced crab even when she couldn’t afford it. One day she painted Steve Murphy’s Adirondack chairs bright orange and yellow.
William Roger and Mildred Smith Lord Rice had five children.
Roger Williams Rice worked at First National Grocery store during high school. He’d bring home cardboard boxes of food. Roger illiams Rice, died in WW II. First he was in the Merchant Marines and then he was in the Air Force. His plane was shot down on September 16, 1944. For a while he was missing in action. Eventually he was buried in a US military Cemetery in St. Avold, France. Roger had a friend named Bill Moore, wealthy friend from Harvard. They met through fellowship at church, St. John’s Episcopol in Charleston. Bill was tall, skinny, and handsome like Gary Cooper. Mrs. Moore sent down payment for a house in Woburn out of Bill’s pension. After Bill died, a notary came. After Roger died, they received $25 or $50 a month. The family was related to the Pulitzer family.
Mildred Anna Rice (3.30.1926-9.10.11)married Steve Murphy (6.16.1916-2.8.1984). They were married on November 3, 1950. Steve worked as a baker. They had two children: Michael James and Stephen Vincent. Millie miscarried five children. See sections on Millie Murphy and Steve Murphy.. Also see Millie’s Memorial Service.
Walter Earl Rice (4.24.1928-2.1.2012) went to Gordon Bible College. He married Audrey Doris Rice January 1, 1951.. Walter taught elementary school, was a principal, and a minister. They lived in New York and South Carolina. They had two children: Kenneth Wayne who married Lorraine (four children: Stephen, Laura, Andrew, and Gregory Cooper); Linda who married ? Chase. They had two children: Justin Adam and Alexandra (Allie) Lauren.
Walter remembers his senior year in high schools. I had Spanish a couple of years. They put me in totally all girls’ Spanish class and I loved it. The teacher would say, “Now girls, and one gentleman.” Walter and his family moved to Audrey’s home town in Port Jeff. Audrey, her brother Bill graduated, Ali and Justin all graduated from Port Jeff High School. For years voted one of best 100 schools in nation.
Evelyn Phyllis Rice McCleary (9.18.1929-8.2.2016). Millie said Evelyn used to like to make up stories. She married Jim McCleary (6.28.1929-7.11.2016, who was a truck driver. They were married on Novemver 11, 1950. They lived in Medford, Massachusetts. They had four children: Jimmy who married Val, Roger who married Mary Beth, Cathy who married Eddie, and David who lived with his parents until he died..
Barbara Alta Rice, died of pancreatic cancer and had an illegitimate daughter, who came to Mildred’s funeral. Only Millie and Mildred knew about her. Millie said Barbara was slow and lax. Barbara and her husband had 8 children: his children, her children, and their children. She received social security.
Mildred was very proud to go to Michael Murphy’ s graduation at Hamilton College. She was thrilled to meet Danny Kaye, who was very gracious toward her. Michael was her first grandchild to go to college. She had 14 grandchildren. Toward the end of her life, Mildred was crushed when she had to give up driving her car at 85. She cried because she had lost her independence. At the end of her life, she was rail thin.
At her funeral, Walter was the minister, and there was an open casket. Mildred was a gutsy hard working woman who took good care of her family and who was fiercely independent.