After a long journey with Cancer, Vida Elaine Miller passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family at St. Martha’s Hospital, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Sunday, February 26, 2017.
Born in Petries, Newfoundland, December 8, 1941, she and her family immigrated to Cape Breton when she was 3 months old. She grew up in Sydney and graduated from Sydney Academy. Elaine spent her working career with Air Canada, first in Sydney, then Calgary, AB.
Elaine was married to Joseph Lloyd Miller on July 16, 1966 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Calgary. They spent 45 years there raising their 3 daughters and making many wonderful memories with great friends and neighbours. They spent many happy holidays over the years back in Cape Breton and travelling around the world. Elaine loved to entertain and was a gracious hostess from the beginning. Be it a yearly party or just a place to stay, their Calgary home was always a welcome place for many visiting Maritimers away from home. That tradition of hospitality continued when she and Joe moved to Antigonish for their retirement in 2006. Elaine and Joe celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past July with many family and friends, new and old, to share in their joy.
Elaine always enjoyed taking part in live theatre and spent several years in the cast of many Sydney Rotary shows and the early Follies. In Calgary, she continued as an active member of the Sweet Adelines Chorale group and helped with the choreography of their yearly shows.
Her love of travel brought her to many exotic places and helped her make countless friends wherever she called home and around the globe. Elaine was deeply grateful to all the many friends and relatives for the love and caring they showed her and Joe in her time in Calgary and Antigonish, especially during her time of need. Elaine will be missed for her great love of getting together with the ladies for Bridge, swimming, a simple coffee or a party. She greatly enjoyed volunteering for the CWL and St. Martha’s Hospital Auxilliary as well as supporting Joe with his decades of service with the Knights of Columbus.
She will be dearly missed and remembered always for her devotion to her family throughout her life and the example of love, strength, and courage she provided to us all.
Elaine leaves behind her devoted husband, Joseph; daughters Meagan (David) Kennedy, Antigonish; Kerrie Anne (Scott) Roberts, Prince George, BC; Erin (Peter) Holub, Eckville, AB; grandchildren, Duncan, Hugh, Angus, Mairinn, Joseph, Bridget, Doyle, Keaghan, Ethan, and Nolan, brothers Don (Carol), Vancouver; David (Ellen), St. Margaret’s Bay, Lorne (Pauline), Chatham, ON; brothers-in-law, Alex (Irene), Jerry (Teresa), Rohan, Danny, all of Sydney; Kevin (Fran), Orleans, ON; Darryl, Buck Lake, AB; sisters-in-law, Judith (Margaree) and Patricia (Jimmy) Willis, Sydney; and many dearly loved nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her parents, Abram and Maud LeDrew, and parents-in-law, Alex and Marion Miller, special Aunts, Blanche and Marjorie, brothers-in-law Cyril, Brian, and sister-in-law, Eunice.
A special thank you to all those who provided comfort and care, but most of all friendship, especially Janet and Martien Bekkers, Fr. Joe MacKenzie, Dr.’s Chiasson, MacKenzie, and Hebb, the countless amazing nurses at St. Martha’s, the VG, and the VON, particularly Tracy and Frances with Palliative Care. You are all the most wonderful examples of God’s grace and loving mercy in action.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at C. L. Curry Funeral Home, 135 College Street, Antigonish. Funeral service to be held 1 p.m. Thursday, March 2, 2017 at St. Ninian Cathedral, with Father Joe MacKenzie presiding. Burial in St. Joseph’s cemetery in the spring.
Family flowers only please. Memorial donations can be made to St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Foundation Endowment Fund, St. Ninian CWL, The Knights of Columbus Council 1105, Scholarship Fund, or a charity of your choice.