from Harding County Leader, Oct. 18, 2006

Experience Works, the nation's largest training and employment organization for mature workers, has named Mary Ellen Menapace, 88, Deputy Municipal Clerk for the Village of Roy, as New Mexico's Outstanding Older Worker for 2006.

 

Mrs. Menapace's first job, at the age of 17, was with an abstract company working with real estate records.  Then, a year later, she became the youngest deputy clerk of Harding County.  Other positions followed, including a 29-year career as an office manager for a chemical company.  After her retirement, the village asked her to come in and help out for a few days.  Twelve years later, she's still "helping out" and has become an essential part of the village operations.

 

Mrs. Menapace is a published poet and author of short stories, and received the Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry, presented by the International Library of Poetry.  She's active in local organizations and is a state resource volunteer for the United States Selective Service System.

 

A survivor of cancer and the unexpected death of a son and a daughter, she also survived the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, supporting her parents and five siblings.  During most of that time, she was sole provider for her own family, and continues to help grandchildren to attend college.

 

Mrs. Menapace received her award in early October at the Prime Time Awards banquet in Washington D.C., where older workers from all 50 states were honored.  Also announced during the Prime Time Awards was America's Oldest Worker, 104-year-old beekeeper and author Waldo McBurney.  More information about Mrs. Menapace, McBurney and all the outstanding older workers and outstanding employers can be found on Experience Works website www.experienceworks.org.

 

The Experience Works Prime Time Awards program is the only national program that, each year, honors the contributions of working seniors. Now in its ninth year, the Prime Time Awards Program seeks to remove barriers to employment and lessen negative stereotypes about older workers.