Obituary of Sue N Miller

Sue Miller, 96, passed away on Wednesday, January 22, 2020, after a short illness. Her children were with her in her final days. Daughter of Harold H. Norman and Elinor Cox Norman, Sue grew up in the small farming town of Parma, Missouri, where she graduated from Parma High School. She attended Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri, graduating with an Associate’s degree in chemistry in 1942. After working for Shell Oil Company for two years, she completed her Bachelor’s degree at University of Missouri in 1946. She then moved to New Jersey, and from 1946 to 1951, she worked as a physical chemist at Merck & Co, Inc., where she met her husband, Stewart Montague Miller. Sue and Monty were married on May 5, 1951. While raising three children, Sue learned to play the bassoon, participating for several years in the Somerset Hills Concert Band and inspiring a lifelong love of music in her kids. When her children were grown, she returned to school, earned a Bachelor’s degree in accounting, and worked in that field at The Hartridge School in Plainfield, New Jersey and at Rutgers University, retiring in 1984 with the position of Bursar. Meanwhile, her enthusiasm for bicycling was developing by leaps and bounds, and she rode for many years with the Central Jersey Bicycling Club and the Morristown Freewheelers. Retirement gave her the opportunity to pursue bicycling with enlarged scope, starting in a big way at the age of 60 with a cross-country journey. She spent the next 20 years bicycling throughout the United States and all over the world, having adventures and journeys that challenged her, taught her new things, and brought her into fellowship with many dear and longtime friends. When age tried to slow her down and forced her to give up bicycling, she continued to embrace life to the very end with eagerness and curiosity in every way that her physical capacity allowed. Sue was preceded in death by Monty, her husband of 65 years, and by her brother, James Roderick Norman. She is survived by her brother Harold S. Norman; her children, Ann, Barbara, and Peter Miller; her daughter-in-law, Heather Harden; and her granddaughter, Megan Miller. The family invites friends to a celebration of her life in the Activities Room at Fellowship Village, 8000 Fellowship Road, Basking Ridge, New Jersey at 2:00 pm on Monday, February 3. Donations in Sue’s memory can be made to the Class of 1942 scholarship fund at Cottey College, Nevada, Missouri, where she had a wonderful time and maintained close connections over the years.