Mickey Levich
Mary Jo Bellner Swartzberg
The longer my husband and I live in this community the more we meet people who have had interesting lives.
I first met Mickey Levich about four years ago. I knew she sold Avon and, at times, worked as a companion for people. Then I had occasion to visit her home. She said she has sold Avon for many years and that, because of her sales record, she received a Mrs. Albee doll each year she sold Avon. The fact is Mickey has 39 Mrs. Albee dolls. A Mrs. Albee doll is awarded only to those who make the planned Avon sales goal for the year.
Now the Mrs. Albee doll is not a little cuddly doll; it is a bisque porcelain doll fashioned in the likes of Mrs. P.F.E. Albee who lived during the latter part of the 19th Century and who is credited with being the first Avon lady.
Avon began over 125 years ago and has brought the most enduring and iconic images of women’s entrepreneurship which began with door-to-door sales, then through workplace contacts and now online sales.
According to the Avon website, Avon founder David H. McConnell handpicked Mrs. Persis Foster Eames (P.F.E.) Albee to become the company’s first representative and affectionately dubbed her the “Mother of the California Perfume Company.” Mrs. P.F.E. Albee, of New Hampshire, was 50 when she began selling perfumes for McConnell.
As I was interviewing Mickey for this article she informed me that she has a degree in Mathematics which led her to several years of teaching Algebra and Geometry at Western Iowa Tech Community College. She enjoyed the teaching position as it allowed her to help students become comfortable with and, therefore, enjoy Mathematics.
Selling Avon and teaching Mathematics have been wonderful vocations for Mickey, but that’s not all Mickey has achieved in her life. Besides being married for over 50 years, having three children and 11 grandchildren, Mickey also worked (for 16 years) as the Director of the Heritage Club at a local bank in her community. In her capacity she planned and organized trips for the over 55 age group. She would plan two major trips (e.g., Switzerland, Ireland and Canada) a year and up to 25 smaller trips to other states to visit historical sites or to see plays and musical performances. Mickey says that her position allowed for her to interact with people and, as well, for her and her husband to see places they otherwise would never have seen.
Until my interview with Mickey I did not know her most interesting past. Where she found the time and energy for all that she did while being a wife and a mother to three boys, going to college to finish her Bachelor’s degree and selling Avon is beyond me. I guess planning trips for up to 50 people and doing lesson plans for her teaching job came easy to her but where oh where did she find the time and energy?