By RODNEY HART

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Hazel Mills says volunteering helped save her life.

The Quincy woman was honored recently in Springfield with the Governor's Unique Achievement Award. At 82, Mills is a bundle of energy who propels herself from one place to the next, always in the name of helping people.

Service, it seems, helps Mills as much as she helps others.

"God has blessed me with abundant energy and health, and I just can't sit here and breathe," Mills said. "I think you have to pay your rent on this earth. People need help, places need help, and that's what we are here for."

She is the last of her family, so she's adopted others. Her husband of 46 years, Sam, died in 1999. She went into a depression and "really cracked up" after his death, and she sought something to help her get through a trying time.

"Then I started volunteering," says Mills, a native of LaGrange, Mo., who moved to Quincy when she was 18. "When you help out somebody else, you help yourself. If you don't think about you, you are better off.

"There are a lot of depressed people out there. Maybe if they got up and helped somebody, maybe they would feel better ... volunteering certainly saved my life."

A registered nurse for 45 years, Mills volunteers for Blessing Hospital, nursing homes, the Salvation Army, church, the Quincy Senior and Family Resource Center and helps many individual friends.

She also works weekends for Hansen-Spear Funeral Home.

"I think she has a battery charger," says Todd Shackelford of the West Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging, which nominated Mills for the governor's award. "She is so pleasant to be with, and at her speech (in Springfield) she said every morning she thanks God to let her have another day to help people, and that is her mantra."

Mills is modest when asked about the award. Four others from across the state were also honored, along with six groups for unique achievements.

"I don't do things for awards. Sometimes I think my friends resent it," she said. "I don't like the attention. But I was honored."

After graduating from the Blessing Hospital School of Nursing, she worked for Blessing and later for the clinic at 14th and Maine until she retired. She and her husband did not have any children.

During a recent Tuesday she volunteered from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Blessing Hospital, where she stocks supplies, answers the phone, files and mans the information desk.

Then it was off to St. Vincent's Home to visit a friend, visit several other shut-ins, stop at another nursing home, and finally to her own Quincy residence at 6 p.m.

That's enough to exhaust somebody a quarter of her age.

When on the phone, she asks the caller to leave a message if they call back because "I'll probably be running the sweeper."

She returned a latter phone call because she was outside cleaning her car.

"I don't have the car waxed yet," she said impatiently.

She is actually taking two days off next week to visit young friends in Hannibal, including "a gal who is more like my daughter."

The Governor's Award for Unique Achievement recognizes groups, individuals and programs that make a positive impact on the lives of seniors in the state. They were nominated by Area Agencies on Aging throughout the state.

"It's not really something I like to talk about," Mills said of the award. "But I'll do it if it helps get the message out about volunteering."

-- rhart@whig.com / 221-3370