“I saw 9/11 happen on TV as I was getting ready to go to work. My husband was playing bluegrass music during that time, and that night as soon as I got off work, we were leaving for Kentucky because they were going to do a program down there at a campground. We got down there and nobody was there. The next night they had a memorial thing, but that was just an unbelievable day.

I was a baby during World War II and I could remember my dad going overseas when I was about five. I had friends that went to Korea and my husband is a Korean vet. During the Korean War I was young and not paying a lot of attention to it. At that time, I was a hair dresser. I went to school first then I worked to keep my rent paid and all that stuff. I guess I just wasn’t on top of it. I remember crying the day my son was born though because that was during Vietnam. I remember thinking, ‘I have a boy.’ While raising him I was worried there would be more war. Luckily, he just slipped through that peaceful era.” (1/2)

“I won’t tell you his name. The guy came in and he said he had been lying in bed and he looked out his window and he saw these clouds. He thought it would be perfect if we could take something and make him a cornice or a pole with something that looked like clouds. I was thinking, ‘I’m good but I am not God.’ But we did it. We got a huge pole and we painted it white so it wouldn’t stand out. Then we got this fabric that had an iridescence to it and it was stiff like an organza or something. We fluffed it up and it looked like clouds. That was probably the craziest request we got.

I made custom-made draperies for seventeen or eighteen years then I finally retired. I currently volunteer at the Senior Center for at least sixteen hours a week and sometimes much more. I just love it; it gives me something to get up for. I get bored at home. I guess my standards aren’t that high for the dust at home.” (2/2)

Winnie is an active volunteer and board member at the Decatur – Macon County Senior Center. To learn more about the Senior Center and its services, click here.