COMMUNITY COLLEGE MONTH SPOTLIGHT: Four generations of local family have attended Wallace State and its programs

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — When it comes to the Millican family, they’ve made Wallace State a part of their lives since the very beginning of the college more than 50 years ago. As Margaret Millican explains, she and her husband Howard, their children, grandchildren and even Howard’s late mother May Millican, have taken classes or participated in programs offered by the college.

“We’ve been up there ever since they had the first building,” Mrs. Millican said. She and Mr. Millican were both college graduates and teachers at Garden City Elementary at the time but decided to take classes at the college at night in subjects of personal interest to them. Mr. Millican took classes in both auto mechanics and collisions repair. In fact, Fred Schockley, who taught auto mechanics at that time and for whom those facilities are now named, was once Mr. Millican’s student, Mrs. Millican said. He also took science and horticulture classes. She took sewing and upholstery classes and they’ve both taken computer classes.

Mrs. Millican also took exercise classes at the college at night before she retired from teaching and began taking classes in the daytime at the Wellness Center. Mrs. Millican’s mother-in-law started exercising at the Wellness Center when she was 88 and continued until she was 98 years old.

“When I first started carrying her up there, she would just kind of shuffle her feet and I would have to let her out at a store or building and I would go park and go back to her,” Mrs. Millican said. After her mother-in-law started working out, she improved enough that she wouldn’t have to be dropped off but was able to walk from the parking lot.

“She lived to be 104 and seven and a half months,” Mrs. Millican said, crediting her mother-in-law’s longevity in part to her exercising at Wallace State.

Mr. and Mrs. Millican still exercise regularly at the Wellness Center and are currently members of the Wallace State Lifelong Learning Institute (WaLLi) program, along with their brother-in-law, Alton Grigsby.

The next generation of the Millicans attended Wallace State as well. The Millicans’ son, Jeff, took auto body classes at the same time as his father. Their oldest daughter, Joyce Ivey, took her basics at Wallace State before transferring to Calhoun to become a registered nurse (before Wallace State had an RN program). Their youngest daughter, Kayla Palmer, took her first two years of college at Wallace State before transferring to Athens to earn a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

The most recent generation of the Millican family to attend Wallace State is the Millicans’ grandchildren. Grandson Wesley Ivey took Electronics Technology at Wallace State and is now working for a medical supply company in Birmingham. Granddaughter Karessa Palmer completed two years at Wallace before transferring to the University of Alabama at Huntsville where she is pursuing an engineering degree. Another granddaughter is expected to attend Wallace State after graduating next year from J.B. Pennington. Extended family members include a nephew who took drafting at Wallace State.

They have seen the college facilities grow from those first few buildings to more than 30. They’ve encouraged family and friends to attend for their education or for programs offered through the Wellness Center and programs like WaLLi. “We’ve gotten a lot of people to come up there and we’ve met so many people,” Mrs. Millican said.

“We really do love Wallace State,” added Mrs. Millican, whose maiden name just happens to be Wallace (no relation to George C. Wallace).

For more information about Wallace State, visit www.wallacestate.edu.

Wallace State is celebrating Community College Month during April. Please visit www.wsccalumni.org/ccmonth20 for more information.