Who Was Mildred Hawk?

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    Mildred McCauley Hawk led a remarkable life. She exhibited a true "maverick" spirit that often saw her standing apart from the rest of the crowd. Following are some highlights from her interesting life:
    • Born in California in 1919. Mildred’s father left the family when Mildred was around 3 or 4. Mrs. McCauley moved Mildred and her brother to Denton.Mrs. Hawk
    • When the Depression hit, Mrs. McCauley couldn’t keep the children, so she put them in an orphanage in Dallas. Mildred’s brother was unruly and ran away from the home several times, so Mrs. McCauley had to take him home. She left Mildred in the orphanage for 5-6 years.
    • At the age of 9, Mrs. McCauley took Mildred from the orphanage and brought her back home to Denton. Mildred often said that the happiest years of her life were between 9 and 15 when the family was together. They lived across the street from the Dixie Boyd family.
    • When Mildred was 16, Mrs. McCauley was killed in a car accident. Mildred was taken in by the Boyd family and became a “sister” to Ruth Boyd Stapler, Dixie Boyd, Bernice Boyd Mitchell, and Dickson K. Boyd, M.D.
    • After Mildred graduated from Denton High School, Mr. Boyd told her she was to go to college. Mildred said she couldn’t, so the Boyd’s helped her go to TWU. Details are a little fuzzy, but Mildred also went to beauty college. This may have been the way she worked her way through college.
    • Mildred graduated from TWU. While there, she excelled in drama, performing with Frank Barrow in “Green Grow the Lilacs."
    • After graduation, Mildred was hired at Consolidated, which later became General Dynamics. There she was “Rosie the Riveter” – working in the flight lines building airplanes. When they found out she had a degree, they promoted her to supervisor. After the war ended, and the men came home, Mildred was told that she could no longer be a supervisor, because that was a man’s job, and she could not supervise men.
    • Mildred met Taylor Bradford Hawk at General Dynamics, and they were married in 1949.
    • Mildred began to design tools that were required to build the planes. She worked at GD for 30+ years until her retirement in 1975.
    • Mrs. Hawk developed the Hawkeye Reader Program in the Denton ISD. In 2003 a sizeable endowment was established to insure that the 3rd grade reading contest will continue for many years to come. 
    Information submitted by Bonnie McCormick, Crownover Librarian