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Diane Miller Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for Diane Miller
TAReid
June 12, 2020
Accompanied her holding hands as she walked her dog Misty throughout the Spring of 1962.... fond memory.
Mom and a butterfly
Allison Miller
June 26, 2019
It has been a little over a year since my mom passed away. Her yahrzeit was June 17th. On that day, I lit a yahrzeit candle, went to the beach and talked to my dad, who was at her grave in Evanston while I sat on the sand in Los Angeles, where I live.
In the week before that terrible anniversary, I printed out about 60 photos of my mom, Diane, and sent a copy of each photo to my dad. I brought those photos to the ocean, he brought them to my mom in her grave. We both looked through them at the same time and talked about how happy she was in each image. Every single photo I have of her from the last decade shows her beaming that smile or laughing at the camera. In the majority of the photos, mom was outside with her binoculars and bird book, doing what she loved. Sometimes she had her hand behind her head with her hips swaying to one side, like a glamour girl, hamming it up for me and the camera, tsruly enjoying the moment.
It helped dad and me immensely to see proof, many times over, that she was so much more than the tragedy of her too-soon death - which is where both of us have been mired for the past year.
It has taken us, but I will speak for myself, it has taken me a year to be able to look at photos of her again. It was somehow more painful to think of the life she had and could no longer enjoy than to think of the emotional and psychological pain of her last few weeks and final end.
Now, I am able to take such joy in her smiling face and sheer exuberance for nature and life and her loved ones. I'm so grateful to be able to celebrate her life again after so much time feeling trapped in her death.
I love you mom, and I miss you every day, all day. Still. But I'm so glad to have helped you to have what, by any account, was a joyous life full of activities and spectacles which you loved.
I'm less scared to be without you now, but I still wish you were here to show me your love, which was so unbelievably unconditional and overwhelming and made life so much less scary and painful.
Diane DuBois Miller, thank you for being my mom. Thank you so much. I love you.
Allison
DAVID JAYNES
June 23, 2019
David,
I am so sorry to hear about your wife Diane. You and I would meet up every morning and the shooting range in Eagle River when I came up for two weeks and talk about our good old days at LaSalle and Bank of America. I remember on many occasions youd tell me about your wife Diane. When I didnt see you during the summer of 2018 and now the summer of 2019, I knew something was wrong! After a little research I found out what was wrong. Once again, I'm sorry to hear about Diane, but you for sure have made y great memories!
gloria Apfel
December 25, 2018
It touched me so what Allison wrote about sweet Diane, my roomie as I used to call her. She and Dave loved her so much. I was thinking about her a few nights ago when Al was over and I said it's six months now that she's gone from this earth. I can conger up her voice and see her before me. I do believe that her presence will always be felt with Dave and Allison and with the rest of us who knew her because goodness never dies. How could it not be...for me it was 53 years that we knew each other. Such a kind person. Miss her... a true gem.
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
I haven't looked at this site in a while. I decided to today. I added a handful of new photos and thought I would share some of my thoughts about my mom, as I think about her today.
Sometimes it is so painful to think about her that I simply can't. My mind actually blocks my thoughts for me. Which is something I appreciate right now. I know, in time, I will think about her more and more as I am ready to, but recently, it has felt like too much.
Right now though, writing this, I will let myself feel the pain of thinking of her...I miss hearing her voice. I miss knowing that she's there. I miss seeing what she is making. I miss hugging her. I reach for the phone to call her. I think about something that I want to tell her. I feel lucky to have known her. I feel lucky to have had her for my mom. I feel lucky that she loved me so unconditionally that it's astounding. I feel lucky that I was able to appreciate her and show her that I appreciated her as much as I did. I wish she had lived so much longer, but I also am so happy that she died at peace, without pain, in her home and in the arms of me and my dad, people that loved her til it hurt. I wish I could have had her with me in this world longer. I was so scared for months after she died. Scared to live without her. That fear has changed to sadness that is so deep and dark that it is the sadness itself that scares me now.
I'm crying as I write this.
I can hear things she used to say to me. The words I can hear her say that - she said every time we saw each other for years - is "I will always be with you". I didn't even think about it when she used to say it to me. Death was so far from us, or at least so far from how I thought at the time. And now, I'm so grateful that she said that to me over and over again, because I can't forget it and can't tell myself that I imagined it - she said it to me dozens of times. And I have to believe her. I want to believe her.
I miss you, mom. I love you. I can see and feel your hands in mine. I remember filing your nails for you in the kitchen two weeks before you died. You couldn't control your movements enough to do it yourself. I remember your hands so well. They were so beautiful.
Allison
Mom on the New Mexico road trip
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Mom
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Mom helping me move to New Mexico for a fellowship
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Mom and Dad
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Mom and Dad
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Mom in front of the Spiral Jetty, Utah
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Mom and Dad
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Bird watching near the Salt Flats in Utah
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
One of Mom's creations
Allison Miller
December 23, 2018
Stephanie Sharpe
August 13, 2018
My Aunt Diane, she was in my life from the time I was born and for 50+ years. She is my 2nd mom. I had her to myself for 8 yrs until her beautiful daughter was born. She taught me how to sew, knit, crochet and so much more. We would play badminton for hours in the street outside her house. I adored her and just loved vising her every year. Over the years she made such special items for me such as an AMAZING bed comforter with fish and an assortment of bags/purses/pouches that I treasure and still use.
She was the best person in every the sense of the wordher kindness, loyalty, generosity, beauty, intelligence, and love of nature among many more. Those of her that are her friends and family are so blessed and our selves are so much richer having had her in our lives. She went too soon, but I am just so fortunate to have had her in my life.
I missed the funeral and was unable to see her this year. I did get to speak to her before I left to try to convey to her how much I loved her and how much she meant to me. I really cannot imagine how very devastating and emotionally taxing it was for her family to be her comfort yet making sure she knew just how much she meant to them and all of us in the weeks before her passing. I will miss her deeply. My heart goes out to my uncle David and Allison for they are feeling the loss so acutely.
Harry Jaffe
August 9, 2018
I just found out that Diane passed away, and extend my sincere condolences. She was, indeed, a special person, and tackled her illness with grace and dignity. I will always remember her for the quickness of her mind and for her creative nature. I wish that there were more people in the world like her.
Harry J. Jaffe, M.D.
RENEE KALISH
August 2, 2018
I answered the door the week of January 1, 1978, and met someone who turned out to be a dear friend. Diane was standing there in the icy cold with a home made cake in her hands to welcome us to Keeney Street. We became quick friends. I was 8 months pregnant, and Diane had an adorable curly haired toddler named Allison. We would sit in each others' kitchens and talk for hours.
Diane had many interests that she generously offered to share with me. She dropped off books about quilting and invited me to quilting exhibits. I went to hear her sing in the chorus on Central Street at Christmas time. We discussed birding when I saw a hawk living on Oakton Street. We shared recipes. I will miss her.
Diane had a quality quite the opposite of me. I am a born complainer. I don't remember Diane complaining about much, if at all. Including when she was very sick. At the end, I did not realize how very sick Diane was the last time that I saw her. She, with a friend, stopped at my house to invite me to go with them to a yard sale, and gave me two perfectly ripe mangos. I will always regret turning down her invitation. That is the last time that I saw Diane. She died several weeks later. I can not imagine the void she has left for David and Allison. I hope your loving memories are of some comfort.
Susan Adamowski
July 29, 2018
I knew Diane for over 50 years. My late husband Max and Diane taught biology together, I believe at Roosevelt High School in the 1960's. David and Diane and Max and I double dated and were at each others' weddings. Diane and David seemed like the perfect couple! One of my favorite pictures of all time is from their first trip to Europe shortly after they were married. They both looked like movie stars (and I mean that in the best way -- like the old-time, wonderful movie stars!).
I have been thrilled to share some of the ups and downs of life with Diane; she was always a true friend. I second all of you who have called her gentle and kind. She was truly a lady -- and a wonderfully intelligent and talented one at that.
I will miss her, but the best part of her lives on with all of us. Her spirit and kindness will touch our lives forever!
My blessings to you, David and Allison, as you negotiate life without her daily physical presence.
July 28, 2018
Sweet Diane, how I miss you. I think of you many times a day, always seeing your warm, smiling face. You were always kind, so thoughtful, always concerned about everyone else. Even at the end, you were asking "And, how are YOU?"
I hope you and Bette and Anita are together, basking in God's love. And we have to go on without you; I hope you can feel the love of so many reaching up to you.
Charlotte Hall
Mary Singh
July 28, 2018
For many years, Diane, usually with her great friend, Davida, came to my yoga classes.
Whenever she'd be absent, she'd explain that she was rehearsing with her choral group, or that she and David had just had a wonderful visit with their adored daughter,
Allison, in California.
Diane and I both enjoyed birding, sometimes with David. A most memorable spring was when the two of us birded Rosehill Cemetery: we found a flock of Scarlet Tanagers, both male and female, the most either of us had ever seen. I'll never forget our shared joy that day, about which we often reminisced. I miss her.
Carolyn Allen
July 28, 2018
I was out of the country when Diane died; so sad to hear the news, and sorry to miss the funeral by one day. This is a welcome opportunity to remember her. We met as sophomores at Hyde Park High School and Diane's ebullient personality made us friends immediately and always. No doubt she had her times of adolescent angst, but even while we were in the middle of it, I thought of her as an ideal teenager. She always looked good, had a quick laugh, and encouraged her friends. In the years after high school we rarely saw each other, but stayed in touch at the holidays. In March this year, by unlikely coincidence, we reconnected and had a long phone conversation that caught us up on our families' happenings. It was as though no time had passed since we last saw each other. It's hard to think that I, and everyone else who knew Diane, won't have another chance to hear her laugh. Deepest condolences to David and Allison on losing a special person too soon.
Carolyn
Katie Telser
July 28, 2018
Diane was one of the most purely loving and loyal people I have ever known. When I think of her, I immediately picture her beaming smile and full-bodied laughter, and how very deeply she loved her family and friends. I also think of her unflagging presence and sympathy when things were hard for others, while she never complained of her own troubles. Her connection with nature was joyful and very visible in her demeanor; she carried with her the peace and resilience that nature embodies. Those who knew her could feel that joy and serenity just by being around her.
I am grateful to Diane for bringing Allison to the world and to my life; Allison carries with her such beauty, wisdom, strength, creativity, kindness and electricity that words don't do her justice, and much of Diane's magic breathes in her daughter. She loved Allison wholeheartedly.
Diane's gifts will always stay with me; she is part of the fabric of my life as of many others'. I am so sad to say goodbye, but so glad for her life.
Left over pizza in the Everglades, 2015
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
Probably the best day of mom's life..
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
The Headlands, 2014
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
Looking for birds in Utah, 2015
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
Mom's birthday in New Mexico, 2017
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
The three of us at the Headlands, SF, 2014
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
Mom and Dad celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
Mom on the boat to the Channel Islands, 2016
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
Mom at the Magic Hedge, summer 2017
Allison Miller
July 27, 2018
AL GIELICZ
June 20, 2018
No exaggeration, probably the sweetest person I've ever known. What a loss.
June 19, 2018
Met Diane in 1956 at O'Keefffe grammar school. She invited me to a Halloween party as her guest that fall. Later we attended Hyde Park High School and sang in the Acapella choir together. As juniors and Seniors we dated off and on and she and I attended the Senior Prom together. In the late 1990's we reconnected through the University of IL Alumni office where she had been an undergrad and I did my graduate work after she graduated. We kept in touch for the last 22 years via email and Class Reunions. I know she will be missed by her family and friends about whom she always spoke so lovingly..... Me too. Ciao Diane.
TAReid
Sharon Newell Breyer
June 19, 2018
I met Diane at Hyde Park High School. Diane befriended me at a time when I needed a friend and someone to talk to in school. I enjoyed many afternoons with her at her family home. She was warm, caring and a good friend to me. Diane will always be in my heart because of her kindness to me.
Gloria Apfel
June 18, 2018
To my beloved friend....rest peacefully and know that I will always remember you with the utmost respect and love. I know no one besides you who always expressed so much interest and listened so intently to what someone had to say. You were a gem of a person to me and my entire family. I'm so happy we met in the dorm so many years ago. I will miss you.
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