Dottie Wix, 79, lives in Miami Lakes and is the volunteer chair of the town’s Elderly Affairs Committee. She is single.
Q: Where are you from, and what was your career?
A: I was born in Miami, Florida. I did not attend college, just high school, and went to work at a bank after high school. I worked 48 years at First National Bank, now known as Wells Fargo. I was in charge of bookkeeping and finished as a fraud investigator.
Q: What do you most like about Miami Lakes?
A: My opportunity to work with the seniors. It was around 2007, I took my mother to a health fair in town and [Vice Mayor] Luis Collazo spoke to me about the committee. I was interested and that’s how I joined. It’s fun working with seniors, they appreciate all we do and it brings so much joy.
(Wix coordinates with restaurants and the Freebee to provide lunches for more than 100 people twice each month and organized pre-pandemic events such as bingo lunches.)
I’m always available to speak to my seniors, because they need it in this lonely time. When you do something you truly like to do, why not?
Q: What do you dislike about the town?
A: The traffic, that is a big problem. I hope it changes and gets better.
Q: What are the responsibilities of running the Elderly Affairs Committee, and what do you hope to accomplish?
A: As the chair, my responsibility is to complete our mission: help the seniors, give them some relief.
A: This year, the committee started something new: having the seniors call one another. Right now it’s just a phone call where they chat with one another and get to know each other and feel less lonely. I hope eventually they will be able to meet in person.
Q: What is your biggest accomplishment, whether in your personal life or career?
A: I think I would have to say working with the seniors. It’s the most satisfying of all my accomplishments. I can see where I’m making a difference, and I see it happening and see it working.
Q: What would you rather be doing/do you have a fantasy career?
A: Volunteer work. I couldn’t do it when I was at the bank, but I would’ve loved to be volunteering.
Q: What are you reading or what podcasts are you listening to?
A: None at the moment. I’d like to write a book [about working with elders] someday, if possible. I just don’t have time to read anymore.
Q: What have you binge-watched on TV?
A: The Hallmark Channel. I’m sick of the news so I’ve been watching lots of Hallmark movies lately.
Q: Where did you last travel to on a vacation?
A: I haven’t traveled too much lately. If I could travel somewhere I haven’t been, it would be Prince Edward Island, in Canada.
Dottie Wix, chair of the Miami Lakes Elderly Affairs Committee. Photo by Megan Jacobo.