AARP Honors Retired Bisbee School Teacher With Andrus Award

Millicent Kasun, a retired school teacher from Bisbee, Arizona, has been selected by AARP to receive the Arizona 2009 AARP Andrus Award for Community Service. 

The Andrus Award, the association’s most prestigious and visible award for community service, symbolizes the belief that individuals have the power and ability to make a difference in the lives of others. AARP Arizona selected Kasun for the nearly 60 years of dedicated teaching and volunteer service she has given to her community. 

Kasun retired in 1989 after teaching in Bisbee for 38 years.  After retirement, she joined several community service organizations and assumed leadership roles in each. Kasun is a former state president of the All Arizona School Retirees Association (AASRA) and current president of the AASRA’s Cochise unit.  Among her many volunteer activities, Kasun has helped raise scholarship funds for the Women’s Club, Rotary Club, Art’s Commission and local VFW.  In 1969, the National Federation of Music honored her for her role in bringing opera to Bisbee.  She is a charter member of the Copper City Woman’s Club and the Bisbee Council on Arts and Humanities.  She is also a past president of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 16 and has been the American Red Cross blood chair in Bisbee since 1989.  

In 2002, Governor Jan Hull recognized Kasun with the Arizona Education Award, and AASRA honored her with its President’s Award.  She is active in the Rotary and is a former Rotary secretary and president. She is a past recipient of the Rotary Achievement Award and the Red Rose Citation.

A cancer survivor, Kasun is the memorial chair for the American Cancer Society in Bisbee, where she drives people to their cancer treatments and is part of a support network for cancer patients.  She was also instrumental in establishing a program for disadvantaged children in Bisbee.       

“We are proud to honor Milicent Kasun for her many years of devoted public service, both as a teacher and a community volunteer,” said David Mitchell, AARP Arizona State Director.  “With her spirit and dedication, Milicent is a natural role model for community service volunteers. She also signifies the valuable contributions that volunteers make each day to their communities.”

“I’m thrilled and honored to receive this award, there are many other people, I’m sure, who deserved it,” said Kasun.  “I firmly believe what Ethel Percy Andrus, the founder of AARP once said, that it is only in giving of oneself to others that we truly live, as our primary objective is to help people help themselves.  Our community is the place where we as individuals can be most effective."