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Ben married Nina Rogers
18 Aug 1913 in Cape Girardeau, MO
Nina and Ben had three children:
Clyde Rogers Milster MD b 1914 d 1995
Rosalind Mable Witzofsky b 1916 d 1983
Edith Lucille Wulfemeyer b 1919 d 1999
After Nina was killed in an auto accident in 1951, Ben remarried to Mildred A Weidemann 26 Jun 1954 in St. Louis, MO
They remained married until Ben's death in 1987.
Ben was a few months short of 100.
Ben had been superintendant of schools in south St. Louis...
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Ben married Nina Rogers
18 Aug 1913 in Cape Girardeau, MO
Nina and Ben had three children:
Clyde Rogers Milster MD b 1914 d 1995
Rosalind Mable Witzofsky b 1916 d 1983
Edith Lucille Wulfemeyer b 1919 d 1999
After Nina was killed in an auto accident in 1951, Ben remarried to Mildred A Weidemann 26 Jun 1954 in St. Louis, MO
They remained married until Ben's death in 1987.
Ben was a few months short of 100.
Ben had been superintendant of schools in south St. Louis for several years by the time he'd retired.
Obituary from the St. Louis Post Dispatch Feb 21, 1987
MILSTER, BEN C., Thurs, Feb. 19, 1987, beloved husband of Mildred A. Milster (nee Weidemann), husband of the late Nina Lynne Milster (nee Rogers), father of Dr. Clyde R. Milster, Edith Wulfemeyer, of Oregon City, Ore., and the late Rosalind Witzofsky, dear father in law, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle and friend.
Mr. Milster was a member of the Cache Lodge No 416 A.F. & A.M.
Service at Hoffmeister Colonial Mortuary, 6464 Chippewa at Watson, Sat., 1:30 p.m. Interment Sunset Burial Park. Masonic Services Fri evening 7:30p.m. VISITATION Fri 3:30 until 9 P.M.; Sat. until service time.
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The following was compiled by Rev Tim Miller (husband of Barbara nee Milster Miller) about Ben's "Story."
Ben Clyde Milster b: March 25, 1887 d: February 19, 1987
Married: August, 18 , 1913 Cape Girardeau, MO 37 years, 11 months, 6 days
Nina Lynne Rogers b: April 10, 1891 d: July 24, 1951
Married: June 26, 1954 Saint Louis, MO 32 years, 7 months, 24 days
Mildred Weidemann b: October 27, 1900 d: Oct 28, 1995
Information:
Born: in Brazeau, MO
Color of Eyes: Light Brown
Religion: Presbyterian
Children with Nina:
Clyde Rogers 1914-1995
Rosalind Mabel 1916-1983
Edith Lucille 1919-1999
Education:
Perryville High School 5-24-1907
Cape Girardeau Normal School 3yr diploma 8-9-1918
Southeast MO State Teachers College 4 yr. diploma 8-6-1920
University of MO – Columbia – Masters of Arts 8-3-1928
Occupation: Teacher, Principal, & Superintendent
Belonged: Masonic Lodge Cache #416 A. F. & A. M.
Died: St. Louis, MO
Buried: Sunset Memorial Park, St. Louis, MO
Ben Milster was born on a farm near the small town of Brazeau, MO. That is where his great grandfather, Daniel Washington Milster, from Concord, North Carolina
Ben’s father, John Everett Milster had numerous different jobs. When Ben was born he was living near Brazeau and farming bottom land of the Mississippi River. When the river flooded and he lost his entire crop he moved to Perryville and built a Livery Stable. But when the train came to town his business suffered so John Everett took the family to St Louis and was a motorman operating a cable car. After two years of that where he had to stand in an open car without any protection all year long, in 1899 he moved back to a farm in Perryville which had a log cabin and a log barn. The property was 4 miles west of town on N road. His father said that, “a barn will build a house, but a house will never build a barn.” So Ben helped his father build a new barn first and later build a brick house. Living on the farm Ben did a lot of hunting for squirrels. When Ben was 17 his father sent him to St Louis to see that amazing World’s Fair.
In 1907 Ben graduated from High School in Perryville and then took the county examination for teaching. He passed it and received a “Second Grade Certificate” to be able to teach. The first two years he taught at a Perry County “5 1/2 month” school. During the spring and summer terms he took courses at the Normal School in Cape Girardeau, MO. The third year of teaching in Perry County he taught at a “6 month” school where he was paid $40.00 a month. They wanted him to stay longer and according to Ben, “they said this school has been here since before the civil war and there has not been one word of complaint all year, we want you to stay.” Well by this time Ben had acquired a State Certificate to teach anywhere in the state, and he said that if he was going to make teaching a profession he did not want to teach in a country where he would have to supplement his salary by being a farmer the rest of the year,” (he did not like farming) but he wanted to teach in a city school. His fourth year of teaching found him in the city of Morely, MO teaching 5th and 6th grade students at an “8 month school” and earning $60.00 a month. They also wanted him to stay and continue teaching there. They kept his position open for 6 months hoping he would return.
From 1911 through 1916 Ben taught at the Oakville, MO elementary school. This was a “9 month” school that paid him $75.00 per month. During the summers he took courses in Cape Girardeau and in 1913 received a Bachelor of Pedagogy which was a Lifetime Certificate to teach High School, anywhere in the state.
At the Normal School he met a girl, Nina Lynn Rogers. She graduated in 1911 with a 4 year Bachelor of Pedagogy degree. They were married August 18, 1913 in Cape Girardeau. Their first child, Clyde Rogers, was born a year later. Their second child, Rosalind Mable was born two years after that.
From Oakville Ben advanced in 1916 to a superintendent position at the Hancock Public School (9101 South Broadway). This was a 16 room county school in Jefferson Barracks. While there he changed the courses and textbooks so that they were the same that were being used in the city schools of St Louis. This increased the caliber and quality of the education that the students received and allowed them to transfer seamlessly from the county school to any of the city schools.
In 1918 he received a diploma for advanced studies from the Cape Girardeau Normal school. Edith Lucille was born in 1919. Then in 1920 he received a 4 year college degree from the school in Cape Girardeau that he had been studying at but which in 1919 had changed into Southeast Missouri State Teacher’s College. With this college degree he moved into the St Louis School system and taught math at Ben Blewett Junior High School (5400 Enright Ave) for the 1920-1921 school yr.
1921 brought another new administrative position for Ben and more challenges. He became the principal of Long School (5028 Morganford Rd). When Cleveland High School became overcrowded and they could not hold all the students, 250 freshman students were placed in his elementary building for a number of years. This gave him a total of 26 teachers in the school.
When Ben was attending the Cape Girardeau Normal School in the summer, one year he was the catcher on the school baseball team. Another year he played as a catcher on the city team for Cape Girardeau which played other city teams. His love for the sport continued and in St Louis he would umpire games and naturally he was an avid Cardinals fan. Another passion for Ben were his roses. He raised dozens of varieties. Cars would drive slowly down the alleyway behind the house to catch a glimpse of the beautiful flowers that filled their back yard.
During those summers that Ben was at school studying, Clyde, Rosalind and Edith spent their summers with family in Fegas and Perryville MO
A pastime for Ben was hunting and fishing. When he was living on the farm outside of Perryville hunting helped put food on the table. In St Louis he had an arrangement to use a club house out on the Meramec River near where he could hunt and fish. It was close enough that he could drive out and shoot squirrels or fish in the morning and bring them home to eat for supper. He said that “it was out there that he taught Rosalind’s husband, Joe to hunt for squirrels.”
In 1928 they purchased the house they lived in on Holly Hills Ave (5428). This house was a mile and a half from Long School, and Ben usually walked to work every day. Also in 1928 Ben received his Masters of Arts degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia. Ben made one last position change in 1943 and became the principal of Lafayette School (815 Ann Street in the Soulard neighborhood). It was at this time that he worked with his math teachers and perfected a math evaluation test that determined a student’s math aptitude and deficiencies. This helped his teachers focus in on exactly what it was that the student needed to spend their time learning. In his later years this test was something he proudly talked about and explained how well it worked.
The Milster family celebrated an amazing event in 1933. Three siblings all celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary together. It was Ben’s mother and father, John Everett and Nellie (Dempster), Milster, George R. and Sarah Ann (Swann) Milster, and Susan Regina (Milster) and Edward E. Kimmel. A dinner was organized in their honor at the Presbyterian Church in Brazeau on December 12, 1933.
Ben and Nina started out on a long summer vacation in 1951, planning to go to Canada and out to San Diego, California where they would see their daughter Edith and her family. When they were west of Calgary, Canada near Banff and Lake Louise they had an accident. The car skidded off the road, rolled over in the ditch, and threw Nina out. She died at the scene from her injuries. They had been married for 37 years and 11 months.
Ben remarried in 1954 to one of the school teachers in his building, Mildred Weidemann. She was a fifth and sixth grade math teacher who had helped him to develop his math evaluation test. When she moved up to the seventh and eighth grade they expanded the test to also work the students at that level. Ben and Mildred were blessed with 32 years of marriage. Retirement came in 1957 at the age of 70, after teaching and being a school administrator for 50 years.
Ben was a member of a Masonic Lodge like his father before him. He belonged to the Cache Lodge No. 416 A.F. &A.M. (Ancient Free & Accepted Masons). And on April 23, 1949 he was received into Shrine membership of the Moolah Temple in St Louis.
Ben was a very disciplined man and in retirement, he daily walked 4 miles. His health was exceptional. He was never in a hospital until the last few years of his life and was able to live at home until a month before he passed away at the age of 99 years, 10 months, and 25 days.
A considerable help for compiling this information came from an interview with Ben taped by Dave & Barb Milster in 1980 |
