The St. Andrew and St. Peter windows are located along the west side of the Nave at St. Mark’s.
These windows were given in memory of Mildred Wood Poole.
The St. Peter and St. Andrew windows were designed by Cummings Studio, San Francisco and cost $1,046 each. They are 28” x 92”.
Mildred and Arthur Poole were two of St. Mark’s most active and involved founders. After Mildred’s sudden death in 1957, two stained glass windows were given as a memorial to Mildred by her husband Arthur and through contributions to the church memorial fund in her name.
Mildred Wood was born in 1892 in Saline, Michigan, near Ann Arbor. She grew up on a farm with her father, mother and big sister Mabel. Her mother died suddenly of appendicitis when Mildred was 11. Mildred lived on the farm with her father, stepmother and sister until she left for college. She attended Ann Arbor High School graduated from Rockford College in Rockford, Illinois in 1912. She did postgraduate work at both Rockford and University of Michigan (Palo Alto Times).
After graduating, Mildred worked as a teacher in Iowa, and then as the nutrition specialist and a teacher at the Massachusetts Agricultural College (Palo Alto Times). It was during the first part of the 20th century that the study of nutrition became a popular science. As more women began to achieve higher education and attend college, nutritional science was a popular major and career for women.
Mildred was a career woman, working at Massachusetts Agriculture until she was 33 (unusual for women in those days). She resigned when she met Arthur B. Poole and was married on July 22, 1925 at Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst. The couple move to Lynbrook, New York for Arthur’s work. They had three sons (Palo Alto Times).
The Poole family moved to California when Arthur became Vice President of American President Lines (a large, international shipping company). In 1939, after Arthur was named consulting professor of water transportation at Stanford Graduate School of Business, the family moved to 665 Gerona Road on Stanford Campus which was their home for the rest of Mildred’s life.
During 1948, Mildred was present at almost every single planning meeting for the St. Mark’s. She was on the first Bishop’s Committee for the mission. She signed the petition sent to the Bishop to establish St. Mark’s. She was a member of St. Mark’s first Finance Commission. She chaired the Committee to plan the reception to welcome the first Rector, Tanner Brown. She was on the Nominating Committee to recommend the first Vestry members for election. Until 1952, She was the President of St. Mark’s Women’s Auxiliary. Until 1954, she was in charge of the various Circle Programs run by the St. Mark’s Women’s Auxiliary. She was a delegate to the Diocesan Convention in 1956. In January of 1957, Mildred was the third woman elected to St. Mark’s Vestry (St. Mark’s Vestry Minutes). In addition to her work at St. Mark’s, she was an active in Palo Alto community affairs “including the Red Cross, the United Council of Churchwomen and the child care center) (San Francisco Examiner).
In April of 1957, the Vestry minutes sadly noted that “Mr. Arthur Poole was appointed to the Vestry to fill the vacancy caused by the grievous death of Mrs. Poole.” (Vestry Minutes). Several months earlier, Mildred had traveled to Rochester, MN for an operation and passed away three weeks after her surgery (San Francisco Examiner). Her hard work and leadership contributed so much to St. Mark’s from the very beginning up until her untimely death.
