Walker, Mildred, 1905-1998

Mildred Walker was born on May 2, 1905, in Philadelphia, PA; daughter of Walter M. and Harriet (Merrifield) Walker. She graduated from Wells College, Aurora, New York in 1926 and earned a master's degree in English literature from the University of Michigan in 1934. She married a Great Falls, Montana physician, Ferdinand Ripley Schemm, on October 25, 1927. Following his death in 1955 she worked as a as a professor at Wells College and as a Fulbright lecturer in Kyoto, Japan. Walker wrote thirteen novels over the course of her career, most of which were intended for an adult audience; however, one of her novels was written for young adults. She was awarded the Avery Hopwood Award in 1934 for Fireweed . Her novel The Body of A Young Man was nominated for a National Book Award in 1960. She died in Vermont 1998.

From the guide to the Mildred Walker Manuscript Draft for If a Lion Could Talk, circa 1969-1970, (Montana State University-Bozeman Library, Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections)