52 Ancestors: #5 Dola M. Worland, Gold Star Mother

Dola and her cousin Ralph Worland, c. 1913
  

Clyde and Dola with their four youngest children in 1943

In 1943, Dola Worland Holtzlider had the distinction of having four children serving in the armed forces.  She became a Gold Star mother two years later when her 19 year-old son Milburn was shot by a sniper at Iwo Jima. Milburn was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Dola M. Worland was my great grandmother.  She was born July 29, 1897 in Jasper County, Indiana.  Her parents were Lewis Milburn Worland and Rebecca Annabel Fisher.  She had two brothers -- Leonard and Luther. For a while, the small family lived with her grandparents.  Eventually, they moved to their own farm in Shelby County, Indiana.

On August 30, 1916, Dola married Clyde Holtzlider.  They lived in Jennings County, where their first two children, Ellison and Reba,  were born.  Soon after Reba was born, the Holtzliders relocated to Decatur County.  Sadly, in April of 1920, six-month old Reba died from pneumonia.  The couple had six more children:  Garnet, Marian, Milburn, Martha (my grandmother), Fred, and Paul.   

Dola sewed clothing for her own family and as a way to make money.  She liked gardening and planted hollyhocks and peonies in her yard.  She enjoyed cooking.  I have made her banana bread recipe many times.

Dola died on December 27, 1979 in Greensburg, Indiana.