Newspaper Page Text
Hometown
Hero
Serving on the
Home Front
Master Sgt. Minnie Hiller-Cousins of Passaic, N.J.
(pop. 67,681), has spent most of her career helping others, both as a high school dropout
prevention counselor and as a family assistance coordinator for die Army National Guard.
Shes a blessing, says Jovannie Viilabol, who visited Hiller-Cousins office at the
Teaneck (N.J.) Armory last year while her husband was serving in Iraq. Viilabol, 26,
says Hiller-Cousins greeted her with a warm smile and a simple question. "How can
I help you?"
Viilabol recalls bursting into tears as she explained that she and her three children
needed a place to live. Hiller-Cousins went to work, finding Viilabol an apartment
with a free month's rent and arranging day care for her youngest child.
“My job is to change a no into a yes with a breath of sunshine,” says Hiller-
Cousins, 51, who joined the Army National Guard in 1978.
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Hiller-Cousins counsels a military family in Teaneck, N.J.
When the 50th Main Support Battalion in
Teaneck was deployed to Iraq in 2004, Hiller- t
Cousins left her high school counseling job to
become the battalion's full-time family assistance
coordinator, working stateside as a liaison between
the soldiers, their families and the community. As
part of her duties, she coordinated the armory’s
food pantry, provided counseling in its family readi
ness and teen programs, and organized events rang
ing from baby siiowers to trips for military families.
In late 2005, she received permission to go to Iraq
to visit her fellow soldiers. Widowed five years ago,
Hiller-Cousins left behind her own five grown
children and six grandchildren to spend four
months in the desert.
She recalls admiring soldiers asking, "Why re r
you coming here, Ma? It’s dangerous here."
by SUSAN M.
’ SIPPRELLE
Photos hy Monika Graff
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Jovannie Viilabol (above, with her children) came to Master Sgt. Hiller-Cousins
For Hiller-Cousins, the answer was simple. She wanted to
be there, in person, to reassure soldiers about their tami
v lies at home and help them prepare for challenges they
facigues. She brought a National Guard chaplain to pray
for Valentin’s recovery.
would face when returning to civilian life. Today,
most of the battalion’s troops have returned home,
k In February, Hiller-Cousins returned to her
g§k, counseling career at Passaic High School, where
she likes to tell students, "It’s not where you
start, but where you finish."
When she began working at Passaic
High School as a counselor in Noo the
school’s dropout rate was 13 percent. In
EjVliv 2005, the rate had fallen to 7 percent.
“She’s constantly calking with scu
■SugNj dents,” says Carlist A. Creech, the school's
■HEJI principal. “She engages them and doesn't
dfary lec chem go.”
One of the many students she hel|sed was
CA® Pedro Valentin, now 26.
Hr While in high school, Valentin was seni
le ously injured in a car accident and spent 13
days in a coma. One night, when he was still
unconscious, Hiller-Cousins arrived at the hospital
straight from the armory, dressed in her milicary
Page 14
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