Married to: Keith Wilber
SOY Location: NB Guam
Years as Milspouse: 12
Areas of Focus:
Antonia Wilber is the heart of her community, a woman who truly defines, ‘serving our military.’ As a COMPASS Mentor and Team Leader, Antonia reinvigorated a once defunct program that now is one of the most popular on Guam. Antonia also volunteers her time with the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society by assisting Navy families via a thrift shop and providing financial counseling and assistance during times of financial crisis and securing interest free loans to assist them. She is also an Ombudsman, chosen by Joint Region Marianas Commander Admiral Bolivar to represent and lead the region’s Ombudsman team as their Assembly Chairperson. She devotes countless hours to over 1000 Navy families forward deployed in Guam. She does all this—and more!– while her spouse is frequently stationed out to sea onboard a forward deployed submarine tender.
Antonia understands the importance of creating an uplifting, supportive environment no matter where the Navy takes her family. She and her spouse have PCSed three times to locations very far from her hometown in Wisconsin. But that has never stopped Antonia from creating home for her, her spouse and especially, her children—even though the landscape (and time zone!) of Guam may have been initially unfamiliar. In many ways, because of Antonia’s selfless dedication and drive to improve every base she finds herself stationed at, one might suggest that she has created many ‘hometowns.’
In 2015, Antonia will expand upon her already impressive work to research and identify the needs of military families and advocate the importance for family support services and programs amongst the Department of Defense budget cuts.
In Her Own Words:
“Every military family deserves an environment that fosters unity, yet encourages independence, whether it be through a social network, neighborhood, faith community, place of employment, educational institution, command, or military family. Education, guidance, and support are the key factors to the success of our military families.”
