March is Women’s History Month.
KGET TV-17 is taking time to honor women and their accomplishments.
We’re celebrating women in our community for their dedication, determination and drive.
This story features the great grandmother of our reporter Tabatha Mills.
Edith Maureen Mills was born December 9, 1916 in Oark, Arkansas.
She was one of eleven and grew up working in the fields along side her mother and father.
A strong spiritual woman, her faith in God has never wavered.
“I’ve followed the Lord all the way,” said Edith Mills.
She married at 19, landing in Bakersfield in 1938.
Her husband left, leaving her with five children to feed.
“I raised them by myself,” Mills said.
She went to work, holding 3 to 4 jobs at a time just to make ends meet.
“You have to do what you have to do,” Mills said.
During a time most women stayed at home to raise their children – she was working.
“I’d get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to go to work. I couldn’t keep a car that would run,” Mills said.
So she’d walk or get a ride from a neighbor, determined to provide for her family.
“It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell ya,” Mills said.
She said it was God who carried her through.
“It had to be the Lord that helped or I’d never made it,” Mills said.
She labored, picking cotton, sweeping train cars, washing laundry at San Joaquin Hospital.
It wasn’t easy to put food on the table, but she did.
‘Trust in God, read your bible and god will carry you through the times that you need to go through,” Mills said.
She retired from Cal Almond at the age of 75, working longer than most ever do just to provide for her family.
“You keep going. You don’t give up because it’s hard,” Mills said.
She’s the backbone of her family and taught them…
“You need to trust God. You need to keep on looking to God and trust him,” Mills said.
