Gene Miller

Obituary of Gene Lee Miller

Gene Lee Miller was born in Paterson, New Jersey on August 20, 1928 to Henry and Ruby Nightengale. Her father emigrated from Holland as a child and her mother could trace her family in America to before the Revolutionary War. She spent her childhood in a combination of the mountains and seasides of New Jersey, surrounded by cousins and friends. She married William Macwhorter in 1948 and was blessed with two children, Glenn in April of 1949 and Lee in April of 1953. Gene had a career in the legal and medical arenas in northern New Jersey for several decades and only retired when she married Newton Miller-who was the mayor of Wayne, New Jersey in 1981. Gene and Newt traveled the world as emissaries for various political organizations including the state government of New Jersey, their travels took them to: Israel, Russia, China, as well as many European nations-they additionally traveled to Mexico and extensively across the United States before retiring to Venice, Florida in 1997. Gene loved to camp and enjoyed being outdoors all of her life, she loved the ocean and she especially loved trees, always remarking at how much she enjoyed the trees of the Santa Cruz Mountains after she moved to Santa Cruz in 2013 to be nearer to her family. Gene lived an incredibly full life of rich memories and made friends easily wherever her adventures took her. Gene will be remembered as a woman of great style, passion and wit who was enormously proud of her children and grandchildren. She passed away on December 4th, as peacefully as the setting sun. She is survived by her son- Glenn Macwhorter, his wife Stephanie and grandchildren: Morgan and Alex, of Santa Cruz, CA and Portland, OR-her daughter, Lee Armstrong-Wineland, her husband Richard, and grandchildren: Miles (wife Katherine), Forest, Devon and Nathan, all of Nashville, Tennessee. She additionally leaves behind her life-long friend, Barbara Frederick, of Parsippany NJ ,Newt’s sisters, Marlyn and Edna, and friends in Santa Cruz, including Lee Scalfani and the family of Don Phillips (a special friend to her who left us earlier in 2017). The family would like to thank her medical team at PAMF: Drs. Heron, Sawhney and Morris, as well as the entire staff at Sunshine Villa who took extraordinary care of her. Services will be private.

 

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