Refugee to Citizen: Maija MacKenzie Builds a Life in the US
Maija MacKenzie was born May 1, 1943 in Ventspils, Latvia, close to the Baltic Sea. In late 1944, Maija’s family fled Latvia by a small fishing boat to escape the Russian invasion. They settled in Northern Germany in a camp for Displaced Persons. When she was four years old, her father was killed in a trucking accident. Her mother remarried and they moved to Central Germany, where she attended school and learned to speak German. In 1956, at age 13, Maija’s family immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. Despite not speaking any English, Maija was enrolled in a junior high school and then Walton High School, an all-girl high school, in the Bronx, New York.
In 1961, Maija and her family became US citizens, and once she graduated high school, her family moved to Waldwick, New Jersey. Maija commuted by bus to work in an office in Manhattan.
In 1964, Maija met and fell in love with Douglas, who she married six months later. They moved to Vero Beach, Florida where they raised their two children, Douglas Jr. and Helen. She now has the joy of being grandmother to five grandchildren: Nicole, Tiffani, Addison, Cooper, and Emerson (in Heaven) and five great-grandchildren: Lexie, Reef, Colie, Halli-Mae and Ganger.
Maija worked at Piper Aircraft for ten years, at The Indian River County Tax Collectors for nine years and as a local optician’s receptionist for fourteen years.
In 2006, after 41 years and ten days of marriage, Douglas passed away from cancer. Maija, herself, is a 13-year cancer survivor. Loved and supported by her family, Maija loves spending as much time as she can with them while also enjoying the community at Renaissance at Vero Beach.
