People like Mildred Walker

Mildred Walker (Schemm) (May 2, 1905 – May 27, 1998) was an American novelist who published 12 novels and was nominated for the National Book Award. She graduated from Wells College and from the University of Michigan. She was a faculty member at Wells College from 1955 to 1968. Walker died in 1998 in Portland, Oregon.

Mildred Walker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 2, 1905. Her father was a Baptist minister and her mother a school teacher. She and her family spent summers at a vacation home in Grafton, Vermont. In 1926 she graduated magna cum laude in literature from Wells College in Aurora, New York. In 1927 she enrolled in graduate school at the University of Michigan where she met and married Dr. Ferdinand Schemm. The couple had three children. Walker earned a master's degree from the University of Michigan and also completed her first novel "Fireweed." Earnings from this book allowed the Walker and her family to move to Great Falls, Montana in 1933. Her husband Ferdinand joined the Great-Falls Clinic where he practiced as a cardiologist and surgeon.