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Elderly Washington County woman holds out hope for help cleaning up after windstorm

Neva Jo Miller
Posted at 3:29 PM, Aug 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-18 21:23:57-04

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Okla. — The windstorm blew thru during the dark of night -- and when night turned to day -- the sun rose to show Neva Jo Miller what she says she struggled to see -- huge limbs; big branches, dangling dangerously close to her the porch on her small, country home.

"All the limbs you see over there, I cut those myself yesterday and drug them over there," Miller said, pointing to a small pile of cut branches.

At 89 years old, going blind in both eyes, and on the mend from a fractured pelvis, Miller said she knew she couldn't handle the rest of the damage alone -- but she never feels alone. "It's hard to deal with life if you're not able to do for yourself."

With no family Miller said she feels isolated in her rural Washington County home near Ramona.

"So you're pretty well forgot," she said to herself.

With precious little money to her name, Miller hopes for help, even from a stranger.

She knows what it's like to help those in need. She said she's been a volunteer for nearly 70 years, giving her time, showing her care, sharing her concern; A hug here, a good deed there, a kind word to those in despair.

"It makes you feel really good to do kindness for someone," Millers said.

In many ways, for those seven decades, Miller has been paying it forward. Now, some may believe it's time for her to have it paid back.

"I was at my wit's end, who else might help me, might listen to me, because there are a whole lot of people just like me out there," she says.

So as her eyesight fades, and her frail body struggles to mend, Miller says she hopes folks remember those in the sunset of their lives.

For her, it would be a prayer, answered. "It would be God's blessing."

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