TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Millie Nuoffer's Friends Plan A Race To Remember

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 28, 2009

A Gasparilla Distance Classic legend who died last month at the age of 92 will be remembered today by friends walking the 5K in her honor.

Millie Nuoffer completed seven Gasparilla 5K races. Not bad, considering she entered her first race at 82.

The 4-foot-10 Dunedin resident stood out among the tens of thousands of Gasparilla runners by wearing a T-shirt declaring "I'm Millie" and her age. A slew of friends and supporters donned similar shirts each year, cheering her on and saying, "Go, Millie!"

One of those friends, Clara Hunt, says Nuoffer loved all the support she got from fellow racers - except when they slowed her pace.

"Everybody kept stopping her to talk," Hunt recalled about Millie's last race in 2006. "She said, "My time is going to be way off.'"

Hunt will be joined today by two more Nuoffer friends, Louise Liberty and Shirley Tuffort. They're all traveling from out of town to remember Nuoffer, whom they met while walking around their Dunedin neighborhood years ago.

Hunt says she last talked to Nuoffer in December. She was living in a nursing home but still talked about the Gasparilla race and kept a thank-you note from Distance Classic director Susan Harmeling by her bedside as a reminder of her accomplishments.

"I talked to her before Christmas, and she said, 'You know, I can't do it this year. But you never know what next year will bring,'" Hunt said.

While Nuoffer won't be walking the race this year, Hunt says her spirit will be there. Her friends are ready to go; they had special shirts made, just as in years past.

This year, however, the message printed on the T-shirts is a little different. They say: "Millie - This one's for you!"

Mary Shedden

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT