Mary R. Mighell

On October 20, 1922, Mary Huntington Rowe was born in her parents' home in Billings, Montana. She was the third child and only daughter of Thomas Tipton Rowe and Louise Huntington Rowe. Mary grew up in Billings, attending the public school through the tenth grade. In the summer of 1938, she and her mother and her two brothers moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where Mary completed the last two years of high school at Central High. During those years, her two brothers, Stanford and Clarke, enrolled at Iowa State College.

Mary and her mother would frequently drive to Ames to visit her brothers and to do so they would pass by close to my hometown of Lake City, Iowa. It was only natural that Louise Rowe would stop to visit with her classmate and sorority sister, my mother, Martha Mighell. And this is how I met Mary. I attended the State University of Iowa and Mary enrolled at Iowa State College. Mary accepted invitations to go to Iowa City for weekend parties with me at the University of Iowa and I attended weekend parties at Iowa State College with her.

The War started and we continued on our studies at our respective schools. Mary received her B.S. in 1944 and went to work as a Martha Logan with Swift & Co. in South St. Paul. I received my M.D. degree in 1945 and went to my internship at Philadelphia General Hospital. On the completion of my internship, we were married in Sioux City, Iowa, on March 27, 1946. Four months later, I went on overseas duty as a medical officer in the South Pacific.

When I returned in November of 1947, we began preparing for my practice and to raise our family. We now have three children, happily married, and they have given us eight grandchildren. For this we feel many times blessed. This year we are sharing our fiftieth year of marriage. Mary has made my life whole and for this I honor her with this plaque.

2/13/95

Paver Inscription:

"Mary R. Mighell
BS 1944
ISU Home Ec"