Millie

Millie had been sick for the past few months.  Seems she never quite recovered from her husband, Glenn passing away in September.  She had been married to Glenn, her second husband, for several years.  They had a good life together until illness and age began to take away the freedom they so enjoyed.

Millie is the mother of my dear friend, Bill.  Bill's wife, Kay (my party in a box friend), and I have been friends since first grade.


The service for Millie at Trinity Lutheran Church was very nice.  The afternoon sun streamed in the large windows and seemed to make the cascade of poinsettias around the altar glow.

I only met Millie a few times, but I sure heard lots of wonderful stories about her.  She was a remarkable woman.  Her German heritage gave her a strong will and when she made up her mind about something, she would not be swayed.  The minister even mentioned in the service that her children admired that trait in her.

A striking woman in her early twenties, Millie worked with Eastern Airlines and that is how she met Bill's dad.  He was returning from Indonesia, or some far away place during the war and she was helping him with his ticket.  Apparently, there was a tax charge left off of his ticket and he went back to get it corrected.  This time, he asked her for a date.  The rest is history.  Her new husband brought her back home to Sanford and they raised their family.  She must have done something right, because her son Bill is a wonderful father, friend, and one of the finest people I know.

Millie traveled all over the world and I think I would have really enjoyed hearing stories of her travels.  She loved N. C. State University and frequented football and basketball games.  Bill, his dad, and his dad's dad, all graduated from N. C. State.  Her first husband was a general contractor and actually designed and worked on several buildings on the NC State campus.  What a rich heritage their family has with the university.

John and I were both students at NC State and that is how we met Bill.  He was a rugby player and fine one at that.  A tag line for the team was, "Give blood, play rugby!".  Oh how true, it is a rough sport.  What wonderful times we had.  And those times were even better when he and my friend Kay, fell in love with one another.

The minister that married Kay and Bill was at Millie's service.  I was in their wedding.  I told him he must have done a good job cause they were still together after all these years.  Kay introduced the minister to her children, Lee, Mary, and Claire.   He told them that Bill taught his children to swim.  He didn't know if they would have wanted to go learn, except that Bill was so handsome all the young girls signed up to learn in his class.

Millie loved to wear scarves.  Her children brought a beautiful hatbox full of her scarves to the reception held after the service.  They offered the scarves to her friends as a remembrance  of Millie.

Bill's sister, Linda, had on a beautiful wrap and I complimented her.  Seems it was a gift Linda brought to her mother from New Zealand some years back.  She happened to see it just as they were leaving for for the funeral service so she decided to wear it .  The wrap was Possumdown.  When she first mentioned the "possum" part, I was a little surprised to say the least.  But she went on to explain that a breed of small possums was introduced into New Zealand and they almost took over.  Now, to help curb the population, they harvest the fur and mix it with Merino wool to make Possumdown clothing.  Still can't say that without smiling, but I do have to say it felt really, really, good.  And apparently, it doesn't pill up like most wool or fur  products do.  Guess I'll  never look at a dead possum quite the same.

Soon it was time to go.  We gathered the family and her caregivers for a picture.  Millie always wanted the family together at Christmas and she finally managed to get it done.

PCQ