Mary Catherine Miller

3rd Baby Dies Yes, I Mary Catherine Demaree Miller was the 3rd baby born in the new Witham hospital at the corner of North Lebanon Street & Camp Street. Dorothy Watt Pugh was 1st on June 11, Betty Armstrong click the 2nd June 19 & me on June 30, 1917. If my memory serves me right our 4 children were born in the same room. While growing up in Lebanon I attended Central school and became a Girl Scout in the first troop led by Captain Sterling. My parents moved to the farm in 1931 adjoining what used to be Ward where there was a church, post office, grocery & home. The one room school house was across the road & sometimes the teacher would stay at my grandparents’ home & walk across the field to the school. I grew up in Lebanon until I was a freshman in high school. Because I wanted to be a nurse & Advance did not have chemistry classes I went to Lebanon my senior year. I graduated from Methodist Hospital in 1939 & did private duty before going to Bluffton to work in the Kaylor-Nickel Hospital even before the 2nd floor was finished. I came back to Boone County & took the first refresher course the hospital had. I then worked as a relief nurse on the medical floor on 3-11 shift. When the West addition was built I worked the evening shift without what we now call Ward Clerks & many a nite I didn’t get home till 2 & 3 a.m. In 1980 I took six week leave of absence & after 2 weeks made it permanent retirement. Several years later I joined the volunteers to help out, I was privileged to move the last patient out to the new hospital several blocks North. I was honored to be part of the dedication & even got to help cut the ribbon. In 1941 I married Robert E.V. Miller who was a trustee for a few terms as well as a member of the alcohol board. We raised 4 children, Larry now living in Indiana, Sharon Duckworth of New York, Mitzi Marlett of Wisconsin & Mary Margaret Stevenson of Fishers. Because I loved nursing and helping people during their illness, I have donated my body to science in hopes it will help more young people in their learning to be a good doctor. A Celebration of Life service will be held Sunday, October 9, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Lebanon, Indiana. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Boone County Cancer Society.

Mary Catherine Miller

June 30, 1917 - September 30, 2016