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5 Per Copy
VOLUME 4
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 198T
NUMBER 4
The best news we’ve heard in a
long time was last night’s announ
cement by the Citizenship Depart
ment of the Woman’s Club that
Mamie Miller has been chosen New
Bern’s Woman of the Year.
It is an honor woefully overdue,
but, as the old saying goes, better
late than never . Five outside
judges, secretly picked and voting
individually, selected her unani
mously, and their joint decision
will be applauded by the many
who know of her countless kind
deeds.
And, when we say countless, it’s
not-just a figure of speech. No
one, not even Mamie, can accurate
ly estimate the thousands of bou-
.qnets, get-well cards, personally-
made gifts, and messages of com
fort and consolation that she has
been responsible for.
Year after year she brightens
hospital rooms with tiny pillow
corsages and flower arrangements
that she grows in her own old-
fashioned garden. Although her
friends are legion, she wouldn’t
think of restricting her remem
brances to them. Strangers have
reason to bless her too, especially
the folks who don’t have someone
else to really care about them.
For our part, we’re proud to
live in a town that Mamie Miller
lives in. Every community, in vary
ing degrees, has its angles of
mercy, but we dare say that very
few cities can boast of a woman
who has done so much for so
manyi She is qui^ty J^pnspicious.
atKHit
been oveirlOoKea-tao^- nwhy timw
when the Woman of the Year was
being named.
Those of us Who excuse our
selves from-greater service to
others because we "don’t have the
time’’ ought to hang our heads in
shame in the presence, of Mamie.
Her duties as a waitress at Wil
liams restaurant gets her out of
bed each morning before the sun
comes up, and she works there un
til early afternoon.
Leaving her job, she continues a
busy schedule that includes gar
dening, housework, running er-
rands, visiting the sick and lonely,
church work, talks before various
groups, and the writing of her
Buds and Blossoms column for
The Mirror.
Somehow she mangges to do a
great deal of reading, and her
library undoubtedly has the finest
collection of books on flowers that
any local citizen owns. She has a
large number of religious volutnes
too, written by distinguished the
ologians.
When Mamie gives a devotional
before a gathering, as she does
fairly often, listeners find it an
inspiring experience. She is neither
prudish nor narrow. Instead of a
- pious, self-righteous attitude, she
lives her religion without pretense
or show.
At the restaurant where she is
employed, she is the target for
a constant flow of affectionate
wise cracks. Witty and quick think
ing, she has a ready answer when
patrons kid her. Because a goodly
number of her customers are el
derly gentlemen who appreciate
her thoughtful pampering, one of
her friends refers to her as the
“belle of the bald and bent.”
Younger gents are just as loyal
to her, and other women are equal
ly fond of this gracious gal with
a heart of gold. Some of her cus
tomers don’t even bother to scan
the menu when they come in for
a meal. They leave it to Mamie
to decide what they are going to
eat, and don’t know what’s in store
for them until it’s served.
One of her hobbies is handker
chiefs, and adoring her white uni
form each day is a suitable one for
the occasion. Whatever the holi
day or season, she doesn’t have to
worry. She has hundreds of them,
and most of them are gifts from
(ContiiHMd on Pago
Photo by John R. Baxter