On December 20th, 2021 we bid farewell to Marjorie Rash Miller. Marge shined her light on those she knew for a mere 85 years. Those who were fortunate enough to know her were keenly aware that she never met a stranger, and that you were truly seen by her in even the briefest of encounters.
Marge was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa July 13th, 1936 to J. Keogh Rash and Faye Wood Rash. The daughter of a college professor, coach, and pioneer in Health Education, her childhood was rich with learning and life experience. Her mother was intelligent and artistic, and Marge was cut from the best cloth of both parents.
She embodied the impressive traits of her generation, running circles around do-it-yourselfers by today’s standards. She is remembered for her abilities as seamstress, wallpaper hanger, woodworker, painter, and artist, often performing these activities into the late hours after tucking her 4 children into bed.
She was an inquisitive child, with many humorous stories about life on the Iowa farm which included a healthy dose of shenanigans. Her parents were Quakers. Her father was a founder of the Quaker Meeting in Bloomington, Indiana. She had a common-sense approach to life, with an underlying core value that honored the goodness in her fellow man.
Her education included graduation from University High School in Bloomington, where she won every award but the acting award. Her first love was journalism, editing the yearbook and the school newspaper. Her love for art manifested itself in a 44 by 4 ½ foot mural in the school cafeteria. This took 1 & ½ years to complete. She wore and wiped her paintbrush on the same pair of jeans the entire time. The building was later adopted into the I.U. Campus, and the mural was featured in a national arts magazine. Both the mural and the petrified jeans persevered for many years.
While at I.U., she designed the seal for the School of Health and Physical Education which is still in use today. It is displayed in stained glass in the Tudor Room, on school stationery, and is carved in stone in Bryan Hall with other department seals. Her artistic gift of toll-painting led her in later years to design and create toll-painted wooden Christmas ornaments. She painted over 1000 in her lifetime and the ornaments are cherished by their recipients to this day.
Marge met her future husband, James Miller in sociology class at I.U. As wedding plans arose, her father was on sabbatical at U of California Berkeley. Her mother had become and was unable to travel, so in true tenacious form, Marge enlisted the help of a dear friend, Maridell Miller (Sargent), as chaperone and the 3 traveled across the country to California where they were wed in a small Quaker Ceremony July 1957. She graduated from Indiana University School of Nursing in 1958, as Marjorie Rash Miller.
In 1966 she and Jim moved to Vincennes with 4 kids aged 8 months to 5 yrs. old and her tenacity in tow. She received the call from Vincennes University to develop and run the Licensed Practical Nursing Program. Never one to let dust settle beneath her feet, she succeeded in developing the LPN program while obtaining her master’s degree in Health Education, and in her spare time, remodeled the family’s ‘new’, 150-year-old home.
Marge’s career continued with the nursing program as a professor in the Associate Degree Nursing Program for 20 years. She obtained a second master’s degree in nursing from University of Evansville in 1989 and became Dean of the Health Occupations Division at Vincennes University until retirement in 2000.
Marge lent her talents to Vincennes in many avenues. She was a dedicated member of Community United Methodist Church and served on many advisory boards and committees for the community. She was an active member of Tri Kappa, was certified as a Master Gardener from Purdue University during her membership in the Vincennes Garden Club and was one of the 3 principals in resurrecting the Farmer’s Market of Old Vincennes.
Her altruism was evident in her role as one of the 1st Knox County Court Appointed Special Advocates for children, when the program was started by the Honorable Edward Theobald. Along with her husband Jim, she volunteered independently in her home teaching private lessons in English as a second language to Knox County immigrants.
This obituary, this brief glimpse into her life, pales in comparison to the honor of knowing Marge as wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend to all.
Marge is preceded in death by her husband, James Miller, and is missed by her brother, William Rash and his wife, Theresa; Children Mike Miller, Phil Miller and wife MaryAnn, Kathryn Miller Schwartz and husband Todd and Susan Miller and fiance Michael King; Her grandchildren, Karli, Mitchell, Cameron, Cole, and Ryan
Services will be held at Community United Methodist Church Friday, Jan. 7. Visitation from 9 to 11am with service to immediately follow at 11 am. A private interment will follow the service.
Online memories may be sent to Marge’s family and friends at www.goodwinsievers.com. Goodwin-Sievers Funeral Home is honored and privileged to be entrusted with the care of Marge.
In lieu of flowers: A memorial scholarship is established in Marge’s honor for the Vincennes University School of Nursing. Electronic donations will be available in the near future.
Currently donations may be made via check payable to:
Vincennes University Foundation (Add ‘Marjorie Miller Scholarship’ in the memo line)
Address:
1002 North First Street
Vincennes, Indiana 47591
