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Carolyn Mead"I tell everybody, 'I own the Y,'" says Carolyn Mead, who has managed the front desk at the Eugene Family YMCA for 30 years. "I'm the director of membership. I claim I'm the C in YMCA." On Thursday, February 28, Mead works her last regular shift before retirement and the Y winds down it's "Carolyn Week" activities with a "Final Fling" at River Ranch. "You see that kid working up front?" she asks. "I took his mom a casserole the day he was born. Now he's ready to graduate from the UO." Mead grew up in Pompano, Florida, and worked as a cashier in a grocery store before she got married, had two kids, and moved cross-country to Creswell in 1974. "My husband had been to Oregon in the service," she says. "We sold our house and came out here." Four years later, she took a job at the Y. "I thought I would work temporarily," she says. "But the Y grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let go." With leisure time in prospect, Mead plans to return for classes. "I'm not a swimmer, but I'm going to try water aerobics," she says. "I'll do gentle yoga and strength and stretch for seniors."
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