All Of Us at MEA MOURN THE DEATH OF OUR BELOVED
VICE-PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENT-ELECT, MILLIE SCANLON.

bELOW PLEASE FIND MY EULOGY PRESENTED AT mILLIE'S MEMORIAL SERVICE ON SATURDAY, MAY 15,
Gail S. Weisberg, MEA President

In the next several days, Millie’s New York family will have the chance to say goodbye to her, but today, it is mostly us, her school family who are saying good bye. We became her family by coincidence – she was our classroom neighbor, a teacher in our school, our Association leader, and our mentor. We got to know her quickly because she was always there and she always had an opinion. And, just as quickly, we came to love her. We didn’t have to, but, we did, because Millie was Millie.

I met Millie about 20 years ago, when we taught together at Taunton Forge. We bonded immediately – we were both New York girls, a breed onto ourselves. Millie was Irish Catholic, me, Jewish, yet we had so much in common. We both shared a strong faith and knew our faith would help us get through anything. She adored her girls – they were then, as always, everything to her. She was a real Mama Bear who protected her cubs at any cost. And, I did the same with my son. Even now, though our children are adults, they remained the center of our universe. We talked about them always, with broad grins on our faces, and enormous pride in our hearts. Millie and I both loved oldies music from the 60’s and 70’s and would listen to the radio playing our songs at our Taunton Forge Breakfast Club each morning. Later on when Millie met Robbie, we all went to a Beach Boys concert together. Millie and I stood on our chairs and screamed. Our guys thought we were crazy! And yes, lest I forget, as New York girls, we always spoke our minds.

As I worked with Millie, I began to appreciate her more. Not only was she passionate about Christine and Kate, she was passionate about all children. Millie taught first grade then, and she treated each of her students as her own. She was firm, had high standards and the kids loved her for setting boundaries. They really adored Mil and her booming voice. And, so did her “pod mates.” Maryanne Scocchio always joked that she never had to discipline her students because when Millie’s voiced boomed through the folding walls, her kids sat up straight, folded their hands and listened!

It was back then that Millie started many of the traditions she continued as a fifth grade teacher at the Allen School. She began bringing in apple pie and milk for Johnny Appleseed Day and hot chocolate and marshmallows to celebrate winter’s first snow. Millie believed every child deserved recognition, and made sure that happened. Each month, she gladly changed her hallway display so that her students could see their work and shine. I remember one time, when she was still teaching first grade, and hanging papers up for Back to School Night, she came across a shriveled, wrinkled paper in the bunch of pristine papers her students had prepared. She hung it up anyway, so his mom and dad would come in and see that Mrs. Scanlon was proud of their child’s work. However, curiosity got the better of Mil, so the next day, she asked the boy why his paper was wrinkled. He replied, “We went to Water World, so I ran it under the water in the sink!” Millie laughed that big, contagious laugh of hers, and the little boy beamed.

Our Millie was a very hard worker. She continued to grow professionally, as she felt that it was her moral obligation to be the best teacher that she could be. She shared her knowledge by teaching Kagan and RTC courses. Many Medford employees took her classes and said it was worth giving up weekends to have the opportunity to learn from her. And, she mentored several Medford educators who are now on the staff of RTC themselves. After Kate and Chris had things of their own to do, Millie started working unbelievably long hours. She was never in school early. In fact, many a day she’d sneak in the back door. But, she always stayed late. We all knew, if we needed Millie at 6, 7, or even 8 o’clock at night all we had to do was dial extension 6218 to find her. And then, exhausted, she’d drag herself home to Robbie to make dinner, or in her words, “to reheat because I’d never cook!”

Many of us are here today to honor Millie as an MEA leader. She really loved her terms as vice-president but really adored being our president. Millie was looking forward to re-assuming that role on July 1^st, and we were looking forward to it as well. As our president, Millie guided us through some tough times. It was Millie who negotiated tough, but fair contracts for us. It was Millie who instituted Spirit funds. It was Millie who had the idea to have an MEA website. It was Millie who thought of having a January members’ dinner that would help to unify our membership. And it was Millie, who stood side by side with our Executive Board through our recent tough times. She would have been so proud of all of us that we stayed strong, fought for our professionalism, and won a battle that was thought to be unwinnable.

I know that Millie is looking down on us right now and smiling. She always loved being center of attention. And today, she is just that. Millie is, and will remain on all of our minds. Each one of us will think of a funny story, a touching moment, and yes, even a disagreement with Millie and it will put both tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces. Our Millie, Mrs. Scanlon, Mrs. Hemp, is and will always be an important part of the Medford community, the Medford Education Association, and the Medford Township Public Schools. I am sure that she will watch over all of us – her students, her colleagues, her friends, and continue to help take care of us from above as she did, when she was here with us on Earth. Millie, my friend, I shall always miss you.