Dates

• Existence: 1887 - 1947

Biography

Margaret Ione Mulnix was a student at the University of Iowa from September 1904 until her graduation in June 1909. During that time she wrote home often and in detail; about 200 of those letters, and approximately 175 letters of reply from her parents, survive in this collection. Margaret Ione Mulnix, known as Ione, was born November 25, 1887, the only child of James Angelo Mulnix, MD, and Sallie Lois Rice. Her parents had married in 1882 and settled in Dows, Iowa, where James Mulnix practiced as a physician and surgeon, and was one-third owner of the Mulnix Drug Store with his two brothers A.B. and Lee Mulnix. Ione Mulnix grew up in Dows. She condensed her high school education into three years which left her slightly short on requirements to enter the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) as a freshman, but she was allowed to enroll in the fall of 1904 as a “sub-freshman.” Because she was only sixteen she roomed that year with a teacher from Dows, Miss Pingrey, who had returned to the University to finish her degree. After dropping out during the fall semester of 1905, Mulnix reentered in January 1906 and graduated in June 1909 with a major in zoology. After graduation, Ione Mulnix returned home to Dows and taught music in the local primary school. On August 8, 1911 she married Walter Grissel and lived in Cedar Rapids throughout their marriage, mainly in a house they built in 1916 at 2226 Upland Drive SE. Walter and Ione Grissel had three children: Margaret Ione, Lois Anna and James Mulnix. After her marriage, she continued her intellectual pursuits with active membership in the DAR, the Cedar Rapids Shakespeare Club, and the American Association of University Women. Throughout her life she was a devoted “daughter of Old Gold.” Ione Mulnix Grissel died on December 8, 1947.

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