Elizabeth Ann Kahl Miller

June 4th 1917 to August 1st 2012

Nanabeth or Aunt Elizabeth, as she was affectionately known by her very extended family passed away very peacefully on Wednesday at midday, comfortably in her own bed and surrounded by her loved ones. A lifelong resident of Merced County, she was born on the ranch in Plainsburg less than a mile from the place she called home for 95 years.

Still driving her Lincoln Town car around Merced at 93 she was an active member of the Merced Women’s Club, Le Grand Garden Club and a docent at the Merced Courthouse Museum to which she contributed many family heirloom items of historical significance and local color. She delighted in creating elegant floral arrangements for family events and had a vast multigenerational garden from which to select just the right flower for any occasion. A minor author in her own right, she contributed to a work commissioned by the Museum entitled the History of Le Grand. She was completely surprised and honored last year to be asked to be the keynote speaker at the Le Grand High School’s 100th anniversary commencement ceremony as the oldest living graduate. She was a fierce advocate for the preservation of local farmland and besides being active in the California Women for Agriculture she carried the legacy of her family ‘ranch’ as a cherished mantle taking pride in its 1860’s origins when her great grandparents arrived by covered wagon and oxcart.

She was a devoted conservative politically and always kept herself informed about national ‘going’s on’ maintaining an unbroken string of ‘I voted ‘stickers ever since she got the vote in 1936. She was never musical, nor could she sing a tune but surrounded herself with musicians and encouraged their musicianship. She was an avid champion of the arts and music in Merced County. She participated in the preparation or attended every one of the 50 Pops Concerts put on by the Merced Symphony.

Elizabeth held several jobs in her life besides caring for her own parents (till 98 and 102). Always setting a renowned dinner or party table she thoroughly enjoyed working at McNamara’s and then Gottschalks Store in the Fine China departments fueling her penchant for lovely works of crystal and silver. She got a degree in early childhood education and worked at the original Shelby Center in Livingston for 18 years developing and providing daily care protocols for developmentally handicapped children 18 months to 4 years old and spending many hours running a rocking chair with other people’s cherished cargo in her arms. She also volunteered as a Pink Lady (candy striper) at Merced County Hospital for over 20 years.

She didn’t get to travel as much as she would like to have done, preferring her arm chair journeys over lines in airports but she did get to see and experience many places in Europe and Alaska as well as in other US states; especially nearly melting the soles of her tennis shoes on a Hawaiian volcanic flow. She loved escaping the valley heat in Yosemite and the forests of Jersey dale above Mariposa. Even at 90 she took on a 2000 mile trek by car from Boston to Nova Scotia and back finding some living relatives and memorial headstones with familiar names in Tatamagouche and New Annan on the Northumberland coast, NS.

Elizabeth cherished the place she lived and the people God gave into her care. She was a devoted member of the Central Presbyterian Church her whole life and leaves behind so many cherished connections in that extended family.

Her children, Lynne M. Ackerman of Cathey’s Valley; Ann M. Moore of Pinole; and G. Ralph Miller of Merced and their collective and extended families would like to extend a welcome to all who knew her or knew of her to a viewing on Tuesday August 7th at Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home, 1490 B St., Merced, CA 95340 and to a celebration of her life in September at Central Presbyterian Church, 520 W. 20th St., Merced, CA 95340. Her ashes will be placed in Plainsburg Cemetery privately at a later date.

Arrangements are under the direction of Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home.