The Senior of the Month for January 2018 is Millie Wewerka. Millie was born in Michigan and was raised as the eldest of five children. She had two younger sisters and two younger brothers. One sister and one brother have passed away. Her remaining siblings still live in Michigan. Millie has many nieces and nephews and the nephews far outnumber the nieces.
Millie has one son who is a Civil Engineer in Medford. Millie was widowed in 1995 when her son was in college and she says she is now “set in her ways” and will likely stay single. She has three grandchildren, all elementary school age. Two boys and one girl, still a preponderance of boys!
Millie worked as a librarian in the Library of Congress for 40 years. She lived a few years in Washington DC and then moved to the suburbs of Maryland and commuted for many years. She got used to driving the commute and dealing with all that traffic. She says her driving habits have changed substantially since moving to Eagle Point! Her son met his future wife in Maryland and she was a Southern Oregon girl so they moved out here and when Millie retired, she joined them in Eagle Point. She is glad to be here.
While living in Washington DC, Millie was called to be part of the jury pool for the Watergate Trial but was not selected. She did, however, serve on a Federal grand jury which was called to hear fraud cases. Not only was the prosecution permitted to ask questions of the accused but the jury was as well. In one instance the jury asked questions of the accused and his answers added up to an admission that he did it!!
When asked what her biggest obstacle was, Millie said her reluctance to try new things. She feels she has two things that are her biggest accomplishments. In her personal life, she is justified in a feeling of accomplishment associated with raising her son who is professionally successful and a good Dad. In her professional life she is proud of the fact that she worked on cataloging library standards that were adopted by libraries throughout the United States.
Millie says her best advice would be to trust God even if you are fearful or anxious. Millie looks forward to continuing to be productive and helpful. She not only works for Food and Friends, which is how we know her, but she is also on the City Planning Commission, she is a neighborhood coordinator for the Eagle Point Food Project, and she is a voluntary tax preparer for AARP and therefore, entering her busy time of year.
We are proud to know Millie and glad that she is part of our Senior Center Family.
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