A Different Sort At 80, She’s Happy Working And Doesn’t Plan To Quit Anytime Soon

As a rusty-red-and-green river of apples bobbed along the conveyor belt, expert hands darted in and out, plucking bruised, split and worm-eaten fruit.

And perhaps no pair of hands at Douglas Fruit’s sorting station is more nimble and more expert than those of Virginia Mills.

Those hands - and the rest of Mills’ too-stubborn-to-quit body - turned 80 years old earlier this month.

But there will be no gold watches yet. No gentle jokes from co-workers about what they’ll miss when Mills gives up the daily toil.

Mills - the Pasco company’s 1996 employee of the year - hasn’t been asked to hang up her sorting gloves, and so it’s the furthest thing from her mind.

“Only when I get to the point when I can’t do it anymore,” said the 5-foot-1-inch woman, her face framed by a mass of slightly unruly silver curls. “I’ll stay as long as they let me - and they will.”

Her supervisor, Cindy Ebberson, isn’t eager to say goodbye.

“Why would you stop a productive person from being productive if they’re happy?” Ebberson asked. “She does the job of most young people, and she’s an inspiration to us all.”

Although Mills typically works 40 hours a week year round, it would be inaccurate to call her a workaholic. It may be that she has an extra store of whatever it is that makes people cling tenaciously to their lives.

“Do you realize how many old women sit in chairs and don’t move?” she asked as she chatted recently with a visitor in the company lunchroom.

Then, letting out a rapid-fire cackle, she said: “Oh, they might not like that,” joking about her more sedate peers.

Mills, a widow who lives with her retired 57-year-old daughter in Pasco, began her career in the fruit trade about 50 years ago when she and her husband were struggling to make ends meet. She worked as a fruit packer for an orchardist in Selah.

In those days, just one year after World War II, Mills was strong enough to lift a 48-pound apple box.

She could make the same claim until her late 60s. That’s when she shifted from packing to sorting.

“I decided it would be easier for my back to sort,” Mills said.

Mills broke a hip eight years ago, but that was when she missed a step at home while carrying out empty boxes.

Other than a slightly hobbled gait, Mills is physically remarkable for an octogenarian. Her doctor gave her a clean bill of health several months ago, she said.

She attributes her well-being to a life free of bad habits.

“I don’t smoke, I never did drink and I go to church,” she said.

As a recent interview began to stretch beyond the promised 20 minutes, Mills appeared a little antsy.

“Anything else?” she asked from time to time in a determined but not unfriendly way.

Just one more thing.

What did this high-octane, nitro-burning granny plan to do for Christmas?

“My daughter and I will do nothing but enjoy ourselves,” she said.