Mann, Mildred

Ceramist and community activist Mildred Mann was born on May 20, 1910 in St. Joseph, Missouri, where she spent her youth and early adulthood. After WWII, she and her husband Arthur moved to Nevada and settled in North Las Vegas. They homesteaded property on Bassler Avenue in North Las Vegas, Nevada and Mildred became active in community affairs. She lobbied for paved streets and street lights, worked to increase voter registration, and served on various committees related to city government. Mann was a member of the Ground Observer Corps, Home League, Ladies of the Salvation Army, Eastern Star, and Rebekahs. The activities that she held most dear, however, were in the ceramics industry. Mann was a founding member of the Nevada State Ceramic Association and instrumental in getting Nevada affiliated with the National Ceramic Association. Her love of teaching led her to set up a ceramics program at the Las Vegas Blind Center. She served as the director of that program for more than thirty years, devoting countless hours to teaching the vision impaired, including a very successful children's program. In addition, she operated Mil-Art Studio in her home and also taught porcelain art at the Clark County Community College (CCCC) in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1976 to 1989. She was such a popular teacher that the wait to get into one of her classes was sometimes as long as three years.

Mann was involved in many craft programs for the Parks and Recreation Department and in 1978 designed craft projects for Sears Department Store. She became a pilot teacher of the handicapped and disabled at the National Ceramic Association Education Foundation headquarters in Cosby, Tennessee. After attaining master status in all facets of the ceramic industry, she was instrumental in designing and administering tests for future teachers and judges of earthenware and porcelain.

Mann was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the National Ceramic Association and a ceramic program for the visually impaired was named for her in Cosby, Tennessee. Her involvement in the fired arts spanned over thirty-four years and remained constant until her death in March of 1996.