Last fall, I had the honor of writing about our beloved City Clerk, Sue McMillan. It was recommended at the time that I do an article on city staff. I am so glad that I chose Sue McMillan to be the first I wrote about. It was a fun article to write, and Sue was simply Sue and gave me a hard time the entire time I interviewed her. Life has a funny way of showing us that it is short. We should not take those moments we share together for granted. Little did I know at the time that Sue was so sick, and that a few short months later, she would leave us.  

The past few weeks, to say the least, have been somber around City Hall. It will be some time before we are back to normal, whatever that “normal” may be. Sue had institutional knowledge that is simply irreplaceable. She was the heart and Soul of Pekin and had a love for all of the staff she worked with, and was so dedicated to the Pekin Community. In fact, her last message to me and the Mayor was that she loved us all, and the City of Pekin. With all she was going through in that moment, she let us know that she loved us all. Sue was truly dedicated to the City of Pekin to the very end.

From a personal level, Sue always made me laugh. She knew the times that I was struggling, and she had a way to always come to me and make me realize that things were not as bad as they seemed. She had the knowledge that gave me the history of how an ordinance came to be, or information to point me to, saving me time from searching. More often than not, she knew what I needed even before I did, and she would have it sitting on my desk waiting for me. Sue made the difficult things seem simple. Sue liked to have fun in the workplace, and she was the person who brought the team together. Sue was, more often than not, the last person to leave on any given night. I often had to tell her it was time to go home. Her response was always, “I just have one more thing to do,” or “I have to publish the agenda first, then I will leave.”  She loved her work, and it showed. Pekin was simply a part of her family.

So, while we all come to terms with our loss, we will continue to represent Sue in a way that honors her. In fact, she was with us at our last council meeting. Her name plate was at her seat, with a flower in her favorite color of purple. To date, her office remains intact as she left it. There are no plans to change this, as we all come to terms with this loss. Yet, how does one say farewell to our friend and colleague in a way that honors them for their dedication and years of service to a community?  That is yet to be determined, but we have some ideas, and we will make sure she is remembered in a way that highlights her dedication to the City.

Sue, somehow, we know you are watching over us. We see little indicators of this as we move forward, and how you prepared us. We will be sure to honor you in a way that embellishes your commitment to the Pekin Community. I miss the after-hours conversations we had, and all of the practical jokes we played on each other. You will be profoundly missed. For now, it is a simple goodbye. We do promise to honor you in the way you deserve, and we will fulfill your hopeful wish of continuing to work together as a team. Godspeed…we will take it from here.