Mildred I. “Millie” Wegener Loving Wife, Mother, Sister, Grandmother and Great Grandmother

Millie Wegener, 87, passed away quietly April 30, 2010 in Sacred Heart Medical Center, Spokane, WA. She was in the first day of rehabilitation for a stoke she suffered on April 12, 2010. Everyone had high hopes. But it was not to be.

Millie was born in Oak Park, IL on November 5, 1922 to Norman and Isabell Hoffman Lanz. She graduated from Oak Park – River Forest High School in 1940. She did exceptionally well in all the home economic classes. Out of high school she was hired as an elevator operator at Chicago’s Macy’s.

On May 29, 1942 she married Ernest Alfred “Ernie” Wegener. Their families were good friends before Millie was born. In fact, Ernie and his Dad brought a gift “for the pretty baby” when Millie was 3 days old and Ernie was 3 years old. Now, with marrying “June” short for junior as in Ernest, Jr. the job she had been preparing for was starting. She often said that all she ever wanted to be was a good wife, mother and, homemaker.

At the time of their marriage, Ernie was working as a chemical engineer for DuPont’s TNT factory in Joliet, IL. They lived there until mid 1944 when Ernie volunteered to work on the Manhattan Project. Millie and he were moved back to Oak Park where Ernie worked under the University of Chicago’ stadium bleachers on the nation’s first prototype reactor.

It was in Oak Park where their first son was born. After the birth, Millie stayed in Oak Park while Ernie traveled to a place called Richland, Washington where he wrote “the towels dry out over night!!” She followed by train in late September, 1944. She found nothing but treeless desert, rattlesnakes, dust and wind and hated it for the first 2 or 3 years. Then their second son came along and they found that Richland and the Northwest, in general, was a nice place to raise a family, especially two boys.

Millie loved camping. This was one of the major family activities when the kids were young. After the boys left home, Ernie and she continued to camp in a small camper. They were always going somewhere.

With two sons and a husband, Millie knew she was out numbered. So, she decided to join ‘em! She went on two 50 mile hikes with Explorer Post 237. She also hiked out to Cape Alava on the Olympic Peninsula and camped for a week with the Explorers. She took her boys fishing before they could drive. She worked two summers as an assistant cook at Boy Scout Camp Wallowa where her two sons were working. She picked quills out of a road-killed porcupine for Indian costumes. She cooked a beaver roast “just to see what it was like.” Her two outdoor oriented boys loved that!! She was always there to support their activities with cookies and there was always enough food for friends who could stay for great dinner.

The Wanapum Tribe held a special place in Millie’s heart. After helping the tribe refurnish their new longhouse with benches and tables in the mid-1970’s, Ernie and Millie were invited to First Foods Feast. They attended them until Ernie was in poor health. Millie would attend all the talks given by the Tribal leaders and as many Archeology Month talks each October that she could.

One of her proudest achievements was being selected Washington State Homemaker of the Year in 1960. She was very active in the Atomic Pioneer Homemakers Club organized through the Washington State Extension Service. She sewed most of her own square dance dresses, her husband shirts and many of her sons’ clothes.

In 1968 she joined the Kadlec Hospital Auxiliary. At the time of her death, she had accumulated over 17, 900 volunteer hours. She was chairman of Kadlec Kreations for 20 years which sews items for the hospital gift shop to sell. Her sock monkeys were a real hit!! She enjoyed her Thursdays with the ladies.

Millie and Ernie loved working with children. In the 1950’s and early 60’s, they taught square dancing classes to teenagers in Benton City and at the Richland Community House. Millie was also a 4-H leader for a long time where she had a large group of kids she taught to sew, knit and other stitchery skills. They always did well at the Benton-Franklin County Fair competition.

She loved watching her granddaughters who lived in the Tri-Cities competing on their horses. She would attend as many Central Washington Pony Club shows as possible. She also enjoyed going to the Tri-Cities Steeldrum Band Association’s Bram Brata’ performances to hear her granddaughter play. Katie and Becky spent many childhood summers with Grandma and Grandpa. She was predeceased by her husband, Ernie A. Wegener, her parents, Norman and Isabell Lanz and her sister Geraldine Gerry Hawkins.

She is survived by her two sons, Ernie and Detlev and his wife Valerie Preuschoff, her granddaughters, Katrina Katie Wilson, Rebecca Wegener, Liesl Wegener and Katje Kitty Wegener and her great grandchildren, Sabrina, Victoria and Benjamin Kelley. She is also survived by many, many friends and neighbors who over the years she came to know and love.

Instead of sending flowers, please send donations to the Kadlec Foundation, 888 Swift Blvd, Richland, WA 99354.

A memorial service will be held at Einan’s Funeral Home on the by-pass highway in Richland at 12:00 noon on Saturday, May 22nd. A luncheon will follow.