Obituary of Nancy Jean Miller

January 24, 1935 – December 15, 2019

Nancy Joan Miller. Age 84 of Southgate.

Beloved wife of Michael N. Miller. Loving mother of Michael R. (Debbie) Miller, Mark N. (Karen) Miller, Richard J. Miller and Robert J. (Cheryl) Miller. Dearest grandmother of Madison Miller, Haley (Jeremy) Blaskay and Amanda (Nick) Kischuk. Great grandmother of three.  Dear sister of Lawrence (Carol) Peters. Also survived by nieces Kim (Rob) Draper, Jenny (John) Reiter, Cyndi (Michael) Kensinger and nephew Timothy (Tamara) Peters. Preceded in death by brother James Peters.

Family Tribute

Nancy Joan Miller was the eldest child of Nelson and Majorie Peters. She had two brothers James and Lawrence. Nancy was a graduate of Our Lady Lourdes High School Class of 1952 River Rouge, Michigan.

She was the mother of four boys (Michael, Mark, Richard, and Robert) and a dedicated wife to her beloved Michael for 63 years. However, if you talk to the kids from Lincoln Street in Lincoln Park and Hoover Elementary School or Lincoln Park High School you will find that Nancy was like a second mother to them. Nancy Miller loved children.

Nancy always instilled the importance of family to her children and throughout the years would have large family gatherings during the holidays. It was her tradition that she carried on until she was no longer physically able to do it. 

She was a lover of animals, especially her Shetland sheepdogs which she would have certified as pet therapy dogs and travel around to different healthcare facilities providing pet therapy to patients who were hospitalized. She did this for about 20 years.

But her love of animals was not limited to dogs. She loved to tell the story and show the scar on her hand from when she was a young child and trapped a squirrel in a blanket and the squirrel bit her.

She also liked to tell the story where she was at a function and they were raffling off live turkeys and she was told by her father Nelson not to bring a live turkey home. 

As it turned out, she won a live turkey and snuck into the house only to be caught by her father.

It was not uncommon, years after she retired that she would be out in a public and you would hear “Hey Mrs. Miller” only to find out it was a student that she helped along the way while working as a secretary at Lincoln Park High School. She never came home bragging how she had helped other children, the only time we as her children would find out about it would be if we happened to be there and witness the encounter. It seemed like this happened hundreds of times.

She could always be seen cooing/talking with children in public. You would think she was a politician running for office, but in fact, the only thing she was doing was enjoying the love she had for all children. She was a mother to the core.

She was never shy about giving her opinion to others and many times those who were around at the time wondered if their health was in jeopardy. With her fiery red hair and personality to match, she earned the nickname “Big Red.”

In her adult life, she had a lot of medical issues and she never seemed to complain about it or question why her. 

She never really talked about how she wanted to be remembered, but those who know her would say did her best and tried to make a difference and that she had the most important job in the world:  MOTHER!

Memorial contributions to The Humane Society or Parkinson’s Foundation are appreciated.