Millicent Anderson

**Millicent Julie Anderson** (née **Obic**; November 11, 1943 – April 15, 2020) was a Croatian-Canadian nurse who was also the mother of Luke Anderson. She was born in Zagreb, the youngest of eight children to Nikolai Obic (1908–1967), a Yugoslav navy soldier who was in Italy when his youngest child was born. Her mother Anna Obic (née Mulvey, 1910–1993) was born in London, the daughter of a Ukrainian father and an English mother where she remained as an only child until she was 12 years old when her younger brother James (1922–2022) was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, who died at the age of 100 on October 6, 2022 in Zagreb, Croatia. Millicent had seven older siblings, Nikolai Jr. (1930–1965), Vladimir (1932–2009), Ivan (born 1934), Jakov (1935–2003), Josip (1938–2012), Danica (1940–2023) and Borislav (1941–2023).

In March 1945, when Millicent was one year old, she and her family fled from Yugoslavia to Indochina (present day Laos) due to the Nazis and Facists. Originally, Nikolai wanted Anna and their children to flee Yugoslavia while Anna was pregnant with Millicent but he was away in Italy and couldn't get in contact with his wife and children without sending a telegraph. After being in Laos for eight months in November 1945, the Obics left after Nikolai called Laotians Chinese and said that their nationalities were very similar to his. Because of this, they arrived in Canada one month later over in Vancouver, British Columbia. In July 1946, the Obics arrived in Winnipeg after being in Vancouver for seven months.

In 1962, Millicent Obic married Leonard Anderson (1941–1998) while she was studying theatre at the Manitoba Theatre Centre. Together, they had five children, Liam (1964–2020), Luke (born 1967), Lisa (born 1969), Logan (born 1972) and Laura (born 1974). From 1964 until 2018, Millicent worked as a nurse at Concordia Hospital. In 1978, Leonard became a member of the MLA, representing the Elmwood-East Kildonan area where he was its leader. Millicent was so proud of her husband being leader of an area of Winnipeg where their five children grew up in.

In 1992, Millicent and Leonard separated and divorced the following after she caught him cheating on another woman, whom Leonard had a daughter from that woman named Robin (born 1996). On March 16, 1998, Leonard died from his heart attack he had suffered from two weeks prior.

In 2019, Millicent retired as a nurse and remained outside of the public eye where she lived in a nursing home over in the Valley Gardens area of Winnipeg. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, Millicent was diagnosed with COVID-19 on April 1 and died two weeks later, just two months after her eldest son Liam. She was 76 and Liam was three days shy of his 56th birthday and he died from coronary thrombosis on February 2, 2020. Under her wishes, Millicent requested that she would have no funeral. She was cremated on April 21 and her ashes were scattered on the intersection of Peguis St. and Transcona Blvd.

## Biography

### Early Life

Millicent Julie Obic was born on November 11, 1943 in either Split or Zagreb, Yugoslavia (present day Croatia). She was the youngest of eight children to Nikolai Obic and his wife Anna Mulvey. When Millicent was born, her father was in Italy when he heard about his youngest child's birth. In March 1945, the Obic family fled Yugoslavia under the request of Josip Broz Tito. As a result, Nikolai, his wife and children were forced to leave due to him being an anti-communist. They first settled in Luang Prabang, French Indochina (present day Laos). Nikolai didn’t like Lao people because he thinks they were Chinese hence the nation was once called "Indochina". In addition, Laos was also a communist country, which affected Nikolai’s anti-communism supports. Afterwards, in November 1945, the Obics left Laos and made it to the Philippines where they met Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur told Nikolai that the Obic family can go to the United States in hopes for a better life. However, Nikolai refused. He told MacArthur that "Canada would be a better place to live". And MacArthur said, "Sure. I don't see why not."

In December 1945, the Obics made it to Canada after a long plane ride from Manila to British Columbia. They settled in Vancouver for seven months until Nikolai decided to take the family for a train ride to Winnipeg. Anna agreed with taking the family to Winnipeg. On July 12, 1946, the Obic family arrived in Winnipeg. Millicent was stunned at how beautiful Winnipeg was. Nikolai Jr. was able to get a second degree at the University of Manitoba in 1950, but dropped out because he was drafted into the Korean War with his father and uncle. While Nikolai Jr. was in combat with James Mulvey, his girlfriend Adrianna Aquino had a daughter named Katharine on April 24, 1951. As a result, Millicent loved her niece with all of her heart. The area the Obic family lived in was St. Vital. Their neighbours were the Andersons, Lawrence and Roberta. Their son Leonard had a crush on Millicent while their daughter Melanie was not interested in any of Millicent's brothers, but she loved being friends with them despite most of them are almost or over five years Melanie's senior. After Millicent’s father and brother returned from Korea, Nikolai Sr. saw that Nikolai Jr. had a daughter. Of course, Nikolai Sr. made the decision that his children (which includes their children) were not allowed to date/marry Asian people. Millicent’s first boyfriend before she married Leonard was originally from Israel, but Nikolai had no problem with Israel despite the fact that he was not Jewish. It was the mainland east and southeastern Asian countries Nikolai Sr. had issues with. Those countries being China, Japan, South Korea (North Korea was acceptable), Mongolia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma and Philippines for example.

### Meeting Leonard

After graduating from Glenlawn Collegiate in 1961, Millicent Obic was looking for a job. She was a fresh girl from the University of Manitoba. Her first job was at the Manitoba Theatre Centre. Millicent was a star. She studied Voltaire, Shakespeare, Broadway and many more. From the MTC, she met Leonard Anderson again. He said that, "Millicent was stunning at playing as Juliet on Romeo & Juliet." and that she wanted to be his girlfriend. Millicent was blushed. "Gosh," she said, "I don't know what to say." And of course, Millicent accepted the relationship with Leonard. The two married on July 6, 1962. Millicent was 18 years old while Leonard was 21. They had five children, Liam, Luke, Lisa, Logan and Laura. In 1964, four months after her son's birth, Millicent got hired at Concordia Hospital, working as a nurse. A year later, Millicent’s brother Nikolai Jr. took his own life by placing a shotgun into his mouth. In 1980, she was Concordia Hospital's person of the year.

### Later life

Millicent was well known to East Kildonan residents particularly because her husband was a member of the MLA for Elmwood-East Kildonan from 1978 to 1989. She was spotted by a lot of people, including U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. In 1991, Millicent was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she recovered after two years of chemotherapy. On March 16, 1998, Leonard died after suffering a heart attack. This death affected Millicent griefly but not emotionally. In 2003, Millicent, around 60 years old, suffered a heart attack and recovered. She remained at Concordia Hospital until 2019.

### Death

On March 17, 2020, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Millicent was diagnosed with the disease on April 1. She died within two weeks after her diagnosis on April 15, 2020. She was 76 years old. Millicent requested that she wanted no funeral and her ashes to be scattered on Peguis St. near Transcona Blvd.

## Trivia

* Millicent's niece Katharine is named after four-time Oscar winning actress Katharine Hepburn.
* She speaks English, Croatian, Khmer and Russian.
* She was bullied in school because the kids in her class called her a communist, Polish, Ukrainian and/or Russian.
	+ Even Dialga once asked Millicent if she was Polish or Ukrainian back in 1966 as he have never heard of Yugoslavia in his life until she told him about the country’s location and population.
* Her son Liam said that his mother had an IQ of 170.
* Millicent and her family fled Yugoslavia because it was taken over by the Fascists, which her father took his wife and their eight children to Indochina, which he called "Fake China" and he also called Laotians Chinese people, which is a reference to King of the Hill episode "Westie Side Story".
* She also hates Lao people just like her husband.
	+ However, unlike her husband, Millicent is neutral towards Korean people.
* Millicent's middle name "Julie" is taken from her maternal grandmother's name "Julia".
	+ Her parents named their youngest child after the wife of William Randolph Hearst, Millicent Hearst.

## Quotes

>  “My father always had the endurance that he wanted us to leave Yugoslavia when we were young. I shouldn’t get that into me because he was trying to seek freedom for us in hopes for better lives outside of the former Yugoslavia. The Philippines was a nice country to live in, but with so many islands, you could possibly get lost in one.” – Millicent Anderson, 2008
>
>

## References

1. ↑ Her niece Katharine called her paternal aunt "Millie" because she probably couldn't pronounce "Millicent" when she was a child.
2. ↑ Millicent once claimed that her birthday was actually November 22 because she celebrated her 20th birthday on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but her son Logan later confirmed in 2018 that his mother was born on the 25th anniversary of the end of World War I.
3. ↑ User blog:MrMimikyu1998/Millicent Anderson's date of death is finally confirmed
Her daughter Laura stated that she saw her mother sleeping on April 16, 2020 but did not think that she had a pulse as she did set her hand on Millicent's jaw and she didn't tell anyone in her family that Millicent had passed away in her sleep due to COVID-19.

## Gallery

Millicent with her niece Katharine in 1955.Millicent with her brother Nikolai Jr. (left) and niece Katharine (in her father's arms), 1953.