Ila Mae (Klocksiem) Julander

Ila Mae attended Paton Consolidated School and graduated from high school early June 1935 as Valedictorian of her class. She played violin in the High School orchestra which took first place in the State contest and continued on to the National contest.

She entered the University of Iowa at Iowa City in September 1936 and lived at Currier Hall. She joined Phi Gamma Nu and Kappa Phi Sororities. Ila Mae majored in business and was very articulate and knowledgeable in poetry, English, and the Arts. She graduated UI in early June 1940.

Ila Mae accepted a teaching position at Ellsworth High School, Ellsworth, Iowa. She taught English, literature, shorthand, typing and related subjects, as well as being the girls’ basketball chaperone.

On 6/8/1941 Ila Mae married Weldon Carl Julander at the Evangelical Church in Boxholm, Iowa. (The Evangelical Church in Paton was unavailable due to remodeling, but the Paton minister performed the ceremony.)

Ila Mae and Weldon traveled to Roma, GA where Weldon worked for the Georgia State Mineral Survey and she worked as a secretary at the Plantation Pipeline Co. Then they relocated to Ely, Nevada where Weldon worked for Consolidated Copper Mines.

During the four years period (1942- 1946) that Weldon served in the Army Air Corp, Ila Mae and Weldon lived on various bases in the United States.

After the war, as she followed her husband around the oil and gas industry, they lived in Salt Lake City, Utah; Farmington, New Mexico; Emporia, Kansas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; with the final home in Denver, Colorado.

No matter where Ila Mae lived, she was very active within her community, church and schools. In Denver, Ila Mae became active in P.E.O., A.A.U.W., and R.M.A.G.A and the Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church. She raised three sons: Frederick Carl, John Weldon, and Robert Carl, who have given her three grandsons, one granddaughter, two great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter.

Ila Mae was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, George Lewis Klocksiem.