Marguerite Anderson Miller's Eulogy

My Dad, Arnold Miller, is Marguerite’s 2nd son. He is unable to join us today because he is finishing up a mission in France & Belgium. He asked me to read a eulogy that he carefully prepared, and to let you know how badly he wishes that he and my mom could be here today.

As I read through my Dad’s talk, I was so deeply touched and reminded that so much of who I am today is because of things that I learned from her. Grandma loved me with a mother’s love, and from the way she talked to me about my cousins, I know that she felt the same way about all of them.

In August 1985, my mom dropped me off for my first year of college at “Ricks”, in Idaho. Several students were homesick and wanted to leave. I never had that problem because Grandma was just a few hours away, and I had a car. a month and ½ later, Grandma welcomed me and my roommate to stay with her during conference weekend. From then on I new I was welcome to show up at her door when ever I needed to feel “at home”.

Part of why it was so fun to visit Grandma Miller is that she was so active. There was always some fun shop or restaurant she wanted to show me. Sometimes we would drive clear across town – into the next city to some little dive, so that she could let me experience the best kebab, or Szechwan, or meatball sub that she had “just discovered”. I loved her zest for life that way. She seemed to love food, and she enjoyed cooking. That is another thing that I learned from her. She also shared with me her favorite recipes and taught me that her fabulous buttery dinner rolls, could also be made into loaves of bread or cinnamon rolls.

I remember going to see her at work, upstairs in the accounting dept. of the ZCMI. I was always so impressed with how long she kept working. So many people would have retired sooner, but most people didn’t have her drive and energy.

I love Grandma for who she was, and for who she helped all of us in the family to become. Some of it is genetics, some of it was her personal influence, but either way, we can all find some way we are grateful to belong to her family.


Marguerite Anderson Miller— Mom

I believe it was a little over 5 years ago when for some reason we had received a list of E-Mail addresses of several of our old high school friends from our days in San Leandro. I used the fact that we had just returned from celebrating Mom’s 90th birthday party as an excuse to contact them and sent them all an E-Mail bragging that my Mom was still alive and spry as ever. To my surprise more than one of the girls that I grew up with responded telling me that they had the fondest of memories of my mother as their Bee-Hive and Laurel teacher, their young women leader. They spoke in the most glowing terms of their admiration for her. They told of how she helped shape their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through her example and teachings. What a great tribute to a great lady… after over 50 years her girls still remembered her with. “She helped shape my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Mom loved working with the young women wherever we lived whether it was in Alameda, San Leandro, or Concord, California. Her stories of girl’s camp were always filled with fun and admiration for the girls she worked with.

Her greatest pride was always in her children. She never missed a performance of one of her kids in school musicals or Ward road shows. She equally loved taking us with Dad on family outings, whether it was camping or fishing or a day at the beach or a family picnic or just a Sunday drive in the country after church. She always saw to it that her children had music lessons. She and Dad never missed a recital or concert or performance. She loved to hear Dad sing and when he sang in the California Mormon Male Chorus it was always a thrill for her. She loved to hear her children sing and was especially proud when one of them became a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Mom loved life… she was a glamorous Model and even had her picture published in the paper modeling dresses for a dress shop in the city where we lived. And though you’d never know it from the photo, she was three months pregnant carrying her youngest daughter, Connie.

She was expert at and loved to sew, knit, crochet, and make quilts… all skills she acquired from her dear mother Hanna Anderson. She even made her own jewelry. She crafted the most beautiful dresses for her daughters and herself. She even went to a school to learn how to tailor and made handsome suits and sport coats for her sons and husband, Harold.

Hats… That’s another story in itself. She loved to make hats. And she wore them whenever occasion would allow. While pouring over several old pictures of Mom I realized that over half of them were of her wearing one of her creations. I believe she even went into business making women’s hats at one time. Though that probably flopped because fashion dictates changed and women stopped wearing hats… something Mom felt was just plain wrong. She loved teaching her skills to her daughters as well as the Relief Society sisters.

Mom loved to cook, (possibly why we all seem to fight the battle of the bulge) and she honed her cooking skills by going directly to the source. She learned to make Spaghetti and Meatballs from our Italian neighbor in Inglewood, California. She learned to make Enchiladas from our Mexican neighbor in San Leandro and she made the sauce from scratch too (none of that canned stuff. She learned to make Scottish Meat Pies from an old family recipe brought from Scotland by our great Grand-Father, James Clark Williams. She learned to make Head Cheese from her Mother-in-law, Ada Marion Williams. She learned to make home-made pickles and Sour-Kraut from her Swedish Mother. Her pies and her home made bread were heavenly and her home made Cinnamon Rolls legendary.

Her memories of the depression era and World War two were vivid wherein our family acted as assistant block Air-Raid Wardens to make certain that everyone drew their shades and turned off all unnecessary lights during a “Black-Out.” You see, after Pearl Harbor, there were fears that Southern California might be next due to the war support industry there and they didn’t want to give the enemy any night time targets. Then when the Korean War broke out just five short years after World War two, she signed up for night- school to learn how to be a riveter. She thought that she might be called on to support yet another war effort as a “Rosy the Riveter” building airplanes or tanks or whatever was needed to make sure our boys in Uniform were supported from the Home Front.

Though food was rationed during the war, our family never went hungry because we always grew our own vegetable garden. We even had fresh eggs because we raised our own chickens. After that wherever we lived we had chickens, rabbits, or ducks. Once when we lived out in the country we even raised some pigs. Many of our neighbors often shared in our bounty.

Most of all, Mom loved the church. When she was married on the 12th of December 1936, during the great depression and there was no temple in Los Angeles so she was married in her parent’s home. But just as soon as they could afford it they made the trip to Mesa, Arizona and were sealed in the temple there. She often spoke of that beautiful moment when they brought her two little boys, two and one half year old Ronnie and his year old baby brother (me) into the sealing room all dressed in white to be sealed to their mommy and daddy for all Eternity.

She always took us to church wherever we were. If our vacation took us to somewhere strange and it was a Sunday she and Dad would look up the local ward and we would attend. Often in small branches, we boys would end up passing or administering to the Sacrament to people we never knew and would probably never see again in this life.

Mom’s Testimony of the Gospel was unshakeable. And her children followed her example. All of her sons and one of her daughters filled at least one mission and they were all sealed in the Temple. Her life bespoke her testimony of the Gospel both in how she lived and in what she taught.

The Doctrine and Covenants Section 62 verse 3 reveals this great truth:
“Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.”

Surely she is now with those angels in joyous reunion with her beloved Husband, as well as her parents, a grandson of whom she was so proud, her brothers and sisters and many others who preceded her on the quest for Eternal Life. And most of all with our Savior, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed all He had including His Life and spilt His innocent and most precious and sacred blood for each of us that we may live again and return to be in His presence.

I bear solemn Testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He is our Lord and Savior, that this is His church… the only true and living church on the earth, restored through His prophet Joseph Smith and that Thomas S. Monson is His living Prophet, Seer and Revelator today in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.