Mildred Elizabeth Trine was born on August 23, 1900 to David Winfield and Harriet (Burgess) Trine. Like three of her siblings, Mildred was deaf. As a child she lived in Virginia and Missouri, but with the death of her father she returned to Michigan. She was educated at the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint. She was also a charter member of the Michigan Deaf Club, which is where she met her future husband, Abe Stern. The pair met after she returned to Flint from a sojourn in Pasadena, California. Mildred and Abe courted while attending meetings at the Deaf Club. When Mildred brought the tall, handsome Abe home to meet her Mother, his future Mother-in-law was won over by his kindliness. Their romance underwent a prolonged strain when Mildred fell ill and was in a coma for months. On Christmas Day 1933 she looked as if she had suffered a stroke, but the doctor called it sleeping sickness. It might have been Polio. For months Mildred was bedfast. When she awoke, she was somewhat paralyzed and could no longer write with her right hand, and she had to relearn many functions including walking. Eventually she recovered sufficiently so that the wedding could proceed. The Reverend A. A. R. Garret married the pair in Flint on June 23, 1935. The couple lived in Flint, where Abe worked for Buick, and later in Grand Blanc. In the summer of 1960 Mildred, who enjoyed traveling, decided to fly to London and enjoy a six week trip in Great Britain with her niece. They toured England, Scotland and Ireland. With that tour Mildred commenced years of traveling abroad. The deaf community chartered trips which took Abe and Mildred to Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Europe, Hawaii, northern Africa, the Caribbean, and the sites of the deaf Olympics. She died at age 91 on November 11, 1991. There were no children.