Ninety Years of Joy
On October 9, Joy Mills attains the glorious status of nonagenarian. Ninety is, of course, ten (the perfect number) times nine (which has remarkable qualities in mythologies and esoteric systems all over the world). Nine is said to symbolize successful search and creative fulfillment. For Theosophists all over the world, Joy is Madam (or to be as up-to-date as she always is, perhaps we should say “Ms”) Theosophy. No one else has served the Society in more places and in more ways than she. No other living soul is better known around the globe or more widely admired than she. No one else has been more perfectly successful in the search we are all engaged on or has more creatively fulfilled their raison d’être.
Joy Mills links generations, plays a significant historical role in the Society, influences numerous lives, and embodies the values of important cultural, religious, and philosophical lineages. She has been a student and a teacher by both profession and avocation. Her bachelor’s degree was from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; her master’s in English literature was from the University of Chicago; her additional post-graduate study of American history was at the University of Washington; but her greatest degree of learning was earned in the school of Theosophical living.