William C. and Elizabeth (Ford) Batten, 7 North 52 West
Mildred Rose (Haynes) Koenig, 100, of Sterling, died Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005, in Sterling. A graveside memorial service will be held March 21. She was born in Sterling on May 30, 1904, to Elmer and Ethel (Batten) Haynes. She was believed to have been the oldest living person born in Sterling still living here at the time of her death. Her family moved to the Frost farm three miles northeast of Sterling when she was very young. She attended the one-room Springdale Valley School through the sixth grade. When she was thirteen, her mother died and she did not return to school that year as she cared for her father and younger brothers. The next year, a teacher helped her to get into summer school to make up her credits so she could graduate with her class in 1921. She was a secretarial major at Logan County Industrial Arts High School. Her first job was with Roberts Printing. After a few years, she became the private secretary to J.N. Sanders, the president of Commercial Bank (now Key Bank). On March 21, 1937, she married Vergil Koenig, and left her job to work with him in his store, Courtesy Grocery. They sold the grocery store and started the Bluebird Dairy in the early 1940s. The dairy was sold in 1958. They also purchased a ranch northwest of Sterling. The ranch was sold in the 1970s. Her husband died in January 1979. She is survived by daughter Carol Graybill and husband Myron, of Sterling; granddaughters Tracy McBride, Fort Collins, and Kelley McBride-Hartman, Arvada; nieces Ruth Fullaway and Pam Rogge; nephew Dennis Haynes; two great-grandchildren; two step-great-grandchildren; and one step-great-great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; sister Vera Jackson; and brothers Ralph "Chick" Haynes and Lester Haynes. |
