Charlotte Hellyer and Millie Conklin have been a “Team of Two” since 1994. Conveniently they were both born in the year of 1928 however; Charlotte has a wee bit of seniority over Millie. Charlotte also known by her friends as “Mother” seems to be the source of encouragement and management for this fun loving team of two.
Charlotte’s career was in bookkeeping until her retirement. She raised two children Bill Hellyer and Janet Connelly, both of Prince George and they in turn gave her four grand children and eight great grand children. Grinning from ear to ear Charlotte said, “You know, I always said that my grand children were the best thing that ever happened to me. Well, I quickly learned that great grand children are the icing on the cake! I am so very thankful for my family.”
Millie worked for Kresge’s for many years and eventually moved on to work for the Red Rock Nursery for 20 years. Millie smiles as she reflects back on those wonderful years and all the great people she worked with and those that she is still in touch with.
Millie has five children: Holly Watson lives in Calgary, Alberta, Barry Conklin lives in Nelson, Tim Conklin lives in Cold Lake, Alberta and Carole Pitchko and Judy Clark both live here in Prince George. Millie is proud to say that she has eight grandchildren and nine great grand children.
Millie has been a member of the Order of the Eastern Star (OES) for the past 36 years.
She collects canceled postage stamps and Campbell’s Soup labels as a fundraiser with all the proceeds going to supplies to fund the OES Cancer Dressings Project. Her local chapter, Nechako Chapter #40, meets regularly to make and provide cancer dressings, free of charge, for cancer patients in Prince George and throughout the Province: For more information on this project just phone Millie at 250-564-5207.
Charlotte and Millie first met 20 years ago while volunteering for the Hospital Auxiliary. The second time they met was a year later when they ran into each other at the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre. To make a long story short they have been good friends ever since. In fact they are both still volunteering regularly for the Hospital Auxiliary and at the senior centre.
In the past 20 years they have put in many hours helping with the work in the kitchen, served as cashiers, served on the board of directors and anything else that needed to be done at the senior centre.
The two friends are now both in their 86th year. The past couple of years have taken a toll on their health with one thing or another but they keep right on smiling and rolling along. Millie says with a good hearted laugh, “My favorite new song these days is ‘I Fall to Pieces”.
Millie took over from Doris Holzworth in 1994 as the convener of the monthly birthday tea at the Elder Citizens Recreation Center. It wasn’t long and Marlene Wenschlag joined this team of two. Millie, Charlotte and Marlene currently manage the monthly birthday tea with the help of many other volunteers. All three concur and say, “The monthly birthday tea would not happen if it wasn’t sponsored by the center and the many donations of cakes, candies, and many long hours of volunteer work from our wonderful members. We just can not thank the volunteers enough and we want to say that we love them all. We are the happiest when we are volunteering and spending our time with our many friends at the senior centre.”
All three ladies agreed, “At this stage of our lives it is all about friends and family. Not much else really matters.”
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