Mira is justly renown for her cookies. They are painstakingly made and decorated each December from old European recipes. The famous cookies were first introduced at a Heathrow Women’s Club Bake Sale December meeting years ago and were an immediate hit. In subsequent years the legend of the cookies grew, and otherwise polite women sought (or was it fought) to get to them first. So the Club turned to auctioning the cookies. The first year they brought $50, then the next year $75, then $100, and finally up to $210 when a halt was called to the auctions. A raffle was created for the prize cookies, which now continues each December and brings in more than the auctions ever did.

But there’s more to know about Mira than cookies. She is a native of Serbia, once part of Yugoslavia, and the story of how she and her family came to this country is a fascinating one. Back in the early 1960’s, the 17-year-old Mira and her boyfriend (now her husband Jim) tried to escape from Communist controlled Yugoslavia by going through the border with Austria. But they were both caught and she ended up in jail for three days, her husband for a longer period.

They didn’t give up but laid low for a while, got married, had a son, and decided to try again. They were living in Slovenia, near the Austrian border, and Mira applied for a passport for her and the baby, stating that she was going to Austria to visit friends, whose names and addresses she made up. Her parents were already in Germany and planned to meet her in Austria.

Amazingly, she recalls, they issued her a passport, in spite of her history. She and the baby got across the border in September 1964 and met her parents and they all went to Germany. By December 1965 her husband had also succeeded in getting a passport and joined the family in Germany.

They lived in Germany for a year and moved to Canada, where they stayed for seven years. A trip to Disney World convinced them to come to Florida, and the rest, as they say, is history. She and her husband opened a supper club in Daytona but ultimately sold it as her husband decided to stick with his contracting business. They have lived in Heathrow for 15 years and have two sons and two grandsons. Mira has been active in the Women’s Club for a number of years, serving on the Board, and making lots of cookies and lots of friends through the Club.

- Stepahnie Strass