“Min Dexter sorts through items donated to Good Cheer, pulling out those that are saleable and those that are not.Matt Johnson / staff photosMinnie Ethel DexterBorn: Aug. 30, 1916 in St. John, Wash. Family: Four siblings. Married Wayne Dexter (deceased) and is the mother of Stan Dexter (also deceased). Education:High school in Outlook, Wash.Years on Whidbey: 55Hobbies: Flowers and gardening, cooking, baking, sewing, reading.Goals: To keep helping people in my own small way. She says this with a thoroughly contented smile.In the back room of the Good Cheer Thrift Shop in Langley, Min Dexter works several volunteer days a week happily cleaning, sorting, or polishing items that have been donated to the charitable organization that supports the South Whidbey Food Bank.At home, Dexter spends morning hours in the country-style galley kitchen of her renovated chicken coop, outfitted in one of her many old-fashioned aprons. She bakes and cooks, often preparing lunches for the staff and volunteers at Good Cheer. The cozy, homey kitchen smells appetizingly of soup stock and fresh bread. While she stirs the soup contentedly, she doesn’t even notice the high humidity in the little galley. Nor the rising, sultry temperature, which is reminiscent of a hot summer midwestern afternoon.Checking the bread baking in the oven, she remarks, I sure hope everyone at Good Cheer is going to like my new bread recipe.These are some of the ways Min Dexter finds satisfaction and happiness in her life: volunteering and helping her neighbor, never feeling herself too important to do even the smallest and most menial task.Brenda Thorn, manager of the Good Cheer thrift shop, has known Dexter for 28 years.Before her husband Wayne died, he and Min were our family’s heroes all those years, Thorn said. One reason is that they never seemed to have any vices — not even watching television. And they were always able to make time for others, Thorn said.Now Min by herself keeps the Dexter legacy going. Thorn says she uses Dexter as as an example to try to live by: helping others, taking everything with a grain of salt, and looking for goodness in everything.Min enjoys and concentrates on the important things in her life, and forgets the rest, Thorn said.Fred Fossek recalls that Min and Wayne Dexter instilled in their son Stan the concepts of individualism, volunteerism and concern for one’s neighbors. Wayne is also now deceased.But Min continues the family tradition of hospitality, independence and concern for her island community, Fossek said.Min Dexter’s father was a hardworking farmer. Her mother died when she was only nine years old. One of those she turned to was her grandmother and namesake: Grandma Minnie.Grandma was a person in the community who looked out for the all the neighbors, Dexter said. She even volunteered to take care of the sick, kind of like a home nurse.It was one of those times that caused a personal tragedy for her grandmother. She had been nursing ailing children who had contracted scarlet fever. When Grandma came home she was careful to take off all her clothes and wash thoroughly before entering her own house, Dexter recounted. But without knowing it, she was a carrier of the fever. As a result, her own 2-year-old twins died.As catastrophic as this was, Dexter said, her grandmother continued nursing and helping her neighbors and living the life she felt she was meant to. Her story is an inspiring one for her granddaughter Min.Another of Dexter’s role models has been her niece (close to Min’s own age). Even though she’s suffered many setbacks, including the loss of her leg, she never looks back. She remains steadfast on her path of giving, in the way she feels is significant, Dexter said. The hardest experience in her own life, she says, has been losing her family, one by one. Yet she remains focused outward, and pays attention to what she believes is of value.Dexter’s family now are the good people at Good Cheer, she says. Holidays such as Christmas are spent at the Fosseks’ home in Langley. They let all us strays in, she said with a hearty laugh.Dexter says in all seriousness that she’d live her life all over again, just as it was, good times as well as the heartaches. Because both are part of life. Besides, most of my life was good.She views growth on South Whidbey in a similar manner: It is part of living in a desirable area, one to which other people are drawn also.I welcome newcomers, and their ideas, just as I was welcomed 55 years ago. Other people have just as much right to live here as I do, she said.With everything in life, including changes, there is good and there is bad. But why look on the sour side of it? she said.Dexter prefers to concentrate on the good things that new people bring to South Whidbey. She enjoys the diversity of Southend residents, the different nationalities and the array of religious and political views.The way I look at it is, we all breathe the same air.Dexter says she figures she’ll get back from others pretty much what she gives out, whether that be a smile or a thank you or a shoulder to lean on.I’m very lucky health-wise, she said. I’m still able to volunteer in person. Others, who are homebound or even bedridden, help out in no less important ways, she said: mending, sorting or repairing items, which can be done anywhere.Jean Favini, a volunteer with Dexter at Good Cheer, says she always looks forward to working with her. Her smile, stories and welcome laughter make the time always fun and memorable.I can only hope that I will be able to look back on my own life the way she does, with a sense of humor and appreciation of the good that life offers, Favini said.Dexter replies, I’m just an ordinary person, just one of the many cogs in the machine of life. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. Her volunteer work alone wouldn’t amount to much, she says, but together with that of all the other volunteers it adds up.Min reminds me of a quote from Helen Keller, Favini added. Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.What others say about MinMin sets goals for herself and reaches them. She’s dependable, someone who can be relied upon. Min stands up for her beliefs, and is generous. She’s volunteered at Good Cheer since retiring from the Star Store some 22 years ago.Joy McClellan, community volunteerShe is loyal, and committed to people. She’s just a good all-around human being.Belma Engstrom, volunteerA thoughtful and giving person. She has volunteered for many, many years. If you need her, she’s there. She has inspired me to try to be as good inside and outside as she is.June Arnold, volunteerI have known Min for over 50 years. She deserves a medal for the many, many years she’s volunteered. She really is a hometown hero: caring, loving, fun, and a good listener.Ethel Goldsmith, volunteerMin Dexter is a loyal, devoted volunteer, washing, ironing, mending the endless linens that come into the store. She sorts, prices, hangs, and goes through piles of donated boxes of items. She is willing to do whatever is needed.Marilyn ThomasMin has a wealth of practical knowledge and is always willing to help and give generously of herself. She’s a steadfast person in this community; she loves to give.Michael and Karen McInerneyFor eight years I have had the pleasure of working side by side with Min at Good Cheer, I as an employee and she a volunteer. She is a continual inspiration to me. On her volunteer days, she often bakes one of her delicious pies for all of us. She quite often makes a scrumptious lunch for everyone as well. She takes home all of our fine linens, washes, presses and neatly folds them every week, and brings them back ready to sell. Min is so very kind and generous. I feel so lucky to know her.Gail Thomas The personal side of Min DexterIs there anywhere you would like to travel?I’m completely content right here in Langley, living in the chicken coop we remodeled as our home and shop.Good advice to live by: Try to overlook others’ faults. We all have good and bad points; none of us is perfect.Min Dexter’s favorite saying: I just had to laugh.Her late husband’s favorite saying: I haven’t had this much fun since the old sow ate my kid brother. Min adds, My husband Wayne didn’t have a kid brother.Finish this sentence: All this Island needs is… Understanding of each other’s needs.Special memories? Many happy times with my late husband, Wayne. He was funny and practical. We were married on my birthday; that way he said he only had to remember one date.Our son, Stan, before he died at the age of 50, gave us many happy times and memories. “