El Cajon Mom Hopes for Clean Sweep in Moscow

It’s going to be tough for Dot Milburn to root for her beloved San Diego Padres next year.

But do it she will--from Moscow, where the 59-year-old El Cajon resident and professional housekeeper will reside for two years after her recent selection from more than 100 applicants nationwide for the post of head housekeeper at the U.S. Embassy.

Milburn said she likes to do things people think she can’t do.

“My friends often call me and say, ‘God, what is she up to now,’ ” she said.

“My family thinks it’s a great opportunity for me . . . they are seldom surprised about what Mom does anymore,” the Kentucky native said, adding that the State Department should finish a security check on her “any day now.”

After her clearance, Milburn will be put through at least two weeks of intensive language training in Washington.

From there, armed with lots of beans and cornbread mix so she can prepare her favorite Southern dishes while in the Soviet Union, Milburn will assume the task of running the staff that cleans and maintains the U.S. Embassy.

“I like a challenge, I like changes because I get bored,” said Milburn, adding that the $27,500 tax-free salary she will receive isn’t bad either.

“Not everyone gets an opportunity like this and I never dreamed it would be offered to me.”

She never dreamed it because the idea for the job started as kind of a joke between Milburn and some of her friends.

As the president of the National Executive Housekeeping Assn.’s San Diego chapter, Milburn had been asked to announce the job opening to association members at one of their meetings.

“Several chapter members started teasing me and saying that I should take the job and I would say, ‘Yeah, I will,’ but I was only joking,” she said.

After thinking about it, Milburn said, “what the heck,” and applied for the job through the Pacific Architects and Engineers firm in Los Angeles that contracts government employees for the State Department at American embassies in Saudi Arabia and Japan along with military bases abroad.

One of about 20 finalists, Milburn was selected for the post because she persuaded Pacific representatives that she was independent enough to function in a vastly different culture thousands of miles from home.

“I told them I’m not the type of person that has to have someone around me at all times,” Milburn said.

A Pacific spokesman said this attribute along with Milburn’s low-key demeanor were major factors in her selection because of the strictly controlled atmosphere in the Soviet Union.

Milburn will run a staff of eight American workers. She would have had 40 Soviet employees also, but recently they were among the 260 employees pulled by the Soviet government at the Moscow embassy and Leningrad consulate in retaliation for the American expulsion of Russian diplomats from the United States.

Pacific is currently trying to fill those positions with American workers, a spokesman said.

From her home where she lives alone, Milburn has been preparing for the trip between the many phone calls from well-wishers and her six children.

“My kids are always calling to see if I’ve heard anything from the State Department (about the security clearance) . . . they want to know if I’m going to be home for Christmas,” she said.

She said that, of course, she’ll miss her kids, and will desperately miss the Padres.

A member of the Madres booster club, Milburn has been a fixture at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium for more than 10 years.

“I bought a VCR and my kids said they’ll tape the games for me and send me the tapes when the Padres win,” Milburn said.

Padres baseball games and country-Western music will be Milburn’s way of adding a little American color to her life behind the Iron Curtain.

“I like Tom T. Hall and Ernest Tubbs and I like Waylon (Jennings) too,” she said.

During her two-year stint, Milburn said, she will receive 26 vacation days a year along with 15 Russian holidays.

She said this should give her ample time to visit her family and see Europe. She has never traveled abroad before.

But first things first.

“I hope I can take a vacation in March so I can go to the Padres’ spring training,” she said.