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View Tree for Mildred Mildred "Millie" Graves Sparks (b. 04 Feb 1898, d. 17 Jun 1979)

Mildred "Millie" Graves Sparks (daughter of Frederick L. Sparks and Edith May Prouty)4059 was born 04 Feb 1898 in Hartford, CT4060, 4061, 4062, 4063, and died 17 Jun 1979 in Wallingford, CT4064, 4065, 4066. She married Joseph Arthur Frédéric "Art" Genest on 06 Oct 1927 in probably Meriden, CT4067, 4068, son of Alexis Genest, Jr. and Marie Anne Aurélie Verreault.

 Includes NotesNotes for Mildred "Millie" Graves Sparks:
"To the best of my knowledge, which gets worse over the years, Grandmother Sparks, and therefore my mother, were members of the Congregational Church. Mom converted to Catholicism when she married my father. " --Rich Genest
Congregationalist is the descendent of the Pilgrims' church.
At her death, she was a parishioner of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Yalesville, CT.
Re: Kidney stones, per Ken Genest
"I thought it was gall stones. Maybe it was both, because I know she had her gall bladder taken out. I do remember her stones were from high-mineral-content well water on the farm."
Mildred was an R.N. She graduated Meriden Hospital class of 1924. At her death, she was a member of the Meriden-Wallingford Nurses Alumnae Association.
Ken Genest: "When I graduated from high school she decided to put me through college working as an R.N. (they make good money) and when she got a physical it came up with an Enlarged Heart. She put me through college anyway. Lived to 80."
Rich Genest: "Mom took up cigarette smoking, too, when she went back to work, then quit when Ken graduated. Of course, she breathed my Dad's cigarette smoke for many years."
Ken Genest: "She talked about an ancestor who lied about his age to become a drummer boy in the Civil War. I think that might have been Frederick Sparks' mother's father - LaForge?"
Ken Genest: "I'm pretty sure she went to the (First???) Congregational Church in Meriden, Connecticut. It's out on Broad Street and East Main Street, on the top of a hill. Meriden is like Rochester, Michigan. It's in a valley between two hills."
Rich Genest: "In 1976 (the bicentennial year), I took Mary and our three children to the historical Northeast. Mary and Frances had never been there. We visited Washington, DC; Philadelphia (Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Betsy Ross house); Boston (Faniel Square, Paul Revere's house, The Old North Church; etc.) Right down front in The Old North Church (yes, we toured the interior) was a box pew with the name GRAVES on it. Even Mom, who was eligible for membership in the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), didn't know about it."
Lyn Grineff Sieffert tells us, "Grammie always let Grampa cook because a) he loved to & b) she was so bad at it. Remember cooking had more technical difficulties in her day. There were only about 4 or 5 things she claimed not to ruin. She could bake a pie (apple). Her stew was what I think of as the Irish variety because she didn't brown the meat. Consequently, it looked pale & grey & since she didn't thicken it, the liquid was more like soup than gravy. She also learned how to make 2 French Canadian dishes that she taught me: Pork,cabbage & rice, & Pork tartierre. I never minded her cooking because it was homemade w/ lots of heart -- unlike my mother's which was mostly delecatessin pick-up."
Richard tells us that in about 1916, Millie bought a Kodak box camera, in a Rexall drug store, he thinks, for "the great sum of $1.00. I was given the camera some time ago, have used it a little and keep it in a curio cabinet in the living room."
Ken Genest asks, "I notice the 'Wellington' as one of the middle names. [Roy Wellington Kline, son of Grave Virginia Prouty] Does that bear out the report from my Mom about being descended from the Duke Of Wellington, Napolean's nemesis?"
"I have the box Kodak camera you mentioned that Grammie purchased for just $1.00. I also have her rosary and a crystal cream server.
"It [the rosary] was being kept in a small box with tissue and that small box inside a black silk sachet/purse or something. I have that too. I bet the rosary didn't get used much either. It has the date imprinted on it [1830]. There are also several very small "charms". I don't like to use that word, but that's all I can think of. The "charms" are of different saints and mostly in a light blue color.
"It is Grammie's rosary, my dad's mom and our Grandma. I remember my dad showing it to me and telling me about it when I had my first communion. We used to be Episcopal before he met Maria Elena Molina, my step-mom. Then, all of a sudden, we were devout catholics!
"The rosary itself wasn't "tagged", but several other items in the little silk purse were, such as my dad's bracelet from when he was born, spelling out the name "Genest" in little beads. I remember Grammie giving my dad a few items from the little trailer back in the 1970's. That's the last time I saw her. It wasn't the last time I saw Grandpa though. He visited my dad in El Paso at least once. He even visited me in my two bedroom trailer when I was married to David." --Loretta Genest Roller
"Mary gave it [the rosary] to me the day after my dad's funeral, on December 23rd. I had forgotten about it I guess. My dad had it and had showed it to me when I was about 9 years old along with the crystal creamer."
While Loretta, Amy, and Ken Genest in April of 2007 tried to determine the original owner of a rosary, Ken tells us,
"Grammie did get into Rosaries, even though she was brought up Protestant. The Catholic Church humiliated her at her wedding by making her go around to the side door at the church to
get married (inside), and they made her promise to bring her kids up Catholic.
"She was terribly afraid of thunderstorms later, and I remember her saying the Rosary during them, because she was scared. They had brainwashed her enough so she thought Mary could do something for her.
"She died a real Christian, though, but somebody put prayer beads in her body's hands -- probably Richard! I don't know if this is news to you or not.
"But 1830 is awfully old - 177 years old! I'd guess it's from another generation back -- a mother of Mary's Grandmother. My Dad didn't bring anything out of his birth home -- he was forcibly evicted."

More About Mildred "Millie" Graves Sparks:
Burial: Unknown, Walnut Grove Cemetery, Meriden, CT.4069
Census: 1930, Meriden, New Haven Co., CT.4070
Graduation: 1924, Meriden Hospital nursing school, Meriden, CT.
Occupation: Registered Nurse.4071
Residence: 1957, Yalesville, CT.4072
Social Security #: 001-24-9092.4073

More About Mildred "Millie" Graves Sparks and Joseph Arthur Frédéric "Art" Genest:
Marriage: 06 Oct 1927, probably Meriden, CT.4074, 4075

Children of Mildred "Millie" Graves Sparks and Joseph Arthur Frédéric "Art" Genest are:
  1. +Richard Arthur Genest, b. 07 Dec 1928, Meriden, CT4075, d. 20 Dec 2006, El Paso, TX4076.
  2. +Kenneth Paul Genest.
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