‘Ms. Willie’ retires after 48 years

With nearly half a century of providing finance service to Soldiers, a recently retired USAFMCOM employee said she looks forward to continuing to serve her community in retirement.

Wilhemenia Taylor, U.S. Army Financial Management Command Military Pay Operations financial management analyst, retired after more than 48 years of combined service at the Maj. Gen. Emmett J. Bean Federal Center June 30.

In her final role with the Army, Taylor provided important analytical reports including important mandatory training and military pay training for Army Military Pay Office employees.

“It was a true honor to be a part of Ms. Taylor’s retirement after 48 years of service to this nation,” said Jason Podzemny, USAFMCOM MPO Support Division chief. “She transitioned from supporting our Soldiers on the active-duty side to becoming the cornerstone of our community as she trained many of the personnel within our AMPO network today.”

A native of Pinehurst, North Carolina, via New York City, Taylor first entered the federal civilian workforce in 1992 with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in the agency’s Active Component Processing Branch.

“I don’t think I ever thought about working this long for the [Department of Defense], but along the way it became a passion for me,” she explained. “I served both in uniform and out, and serving on both sides is what always drove me to do the best that I can for those I served because I’ve been in their boots.”

Prior to her civil service career, Taylor served proudly as a Soldier with more than 15 years of military service from 1976 to 1992. During this time, she served in numerous assignments as a 73C finance specialist, including those in Germany and Texas.

“My goal in joining was to get a job to be able to take care of my young daughter,” she recalled. Taylor went on to have another daughter and two grandchildren, but she was quick to point out they aren’t really ‘children’ anymore.

“I wanted to be an example for them to set their goals and achieve them, but I wanted them also to get as much education as possible,” Taylor continued. “And, they’ve done that.”

After her military service, Taylor said she refined her craft during her first civil service stint with DFAS by working on difficult military cases.

She then joined the U.S. Navy’s Defense Joint Military Pay System team and supported Sailors with military pay issues. In this role, Taylor’s supervisors described her in evaluations as one of the most knowledgeable tax technicians on the team with her selection for their newly created Tax Team.

Taylor combined all her military and civilians experience and knowledge, joining the DFAS military instructor team, where she led the team to train new and seasoned employees.

Finally, in 2020, she joined USAFMCOM’s MPO directorate in 2020 after DFAS transitioned the AMPOs to USAFMCOM.

Now that she’s retired, Taylor said she’s looking forward to spending some time with her elderly mother before getting back to her passion for service.

“I hope to volunteer at a local library reading to children, and I also want to volunteer at a local food bank,” she said.

While the future is hopeful for Taylor, Podzemny said her loss will be felt.

“Her friendly, energetic demeanor as well as her wealth of knowledge will be sorely missed within our network,” he concluded.