Josephine "Pat" Miller

the disabled, and the tiniest person in the room. Born in Brooklyn on June 19,

1926, she was the eldest child of Michael "Sonny" Scudero and Millie DiFlorio

Scudero. Her parents nicknamed her "Petsy", a name that stuck throughout her

life.

After graduating Midwood High School and working a variety of clerical jobs in

downtown Brooklyn, Pat headed to the altar with her childhood sweetheart and

neighbor, Fredrick Miller. They had met in grammar school, where Fred was

instantly smitten. They married, madly in love, in 1949 after Fred’s return from the

navy.

Later, they found a house on the very same Flatbush block where they grew up.

There, they welcomed their first child, a son, Gerald and later, their daughter,

Diane. In the early 1960's, the Millers moved to a house in Great Kills, where they

remained for the rest of their lives.

Pat Miller was well known for her advocacy work, which started when she arrived

on Staten Island and found there were no special services available for her

daughter, who had Down's Syndrome. Pat took up the cause, educating herself by

going to meetings with other parents. From there she co-led a new group called

Parents-Teachers-Friends of the Retarded, where she reached out to elected

officials and educational leaders about the needs of disabled children in Staten

Island.

In 1967, Pat led her group to achieve the opening of the first school for

developmentally disabled teens on Staten Island, which lead to what is now

known as the Hungerford School. She worked with the Staten Island Federation of

PTAs to build educational support services and resources, providing advocacy and

service with the Citizens Council for the Community of the Disabled and worked

with the late State Senator John Marchi to create District 75, the centralized Board

of Education (now DOE) that oversees special education schools city wide.

She worked with Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Senator Robert Kennedy on

founding the Special Olympics and with Assemblywoman Elizabeth A. Connelly to

close the Willowbrook State School. Along the way, she co-founded and held the Chairwoman position for many years for the Parents Coalition to Support District 75, an organization that continued to champion the needs of children and adults with developmental challenges, raising her voice whenever the City threatened

closure or cancellation of services. She established and coordinated Parents in

Partnership, an educational seminar for teachers, social workers and parents and

helped create Staten Island's Special Education Training Resource Centers.

Later, in the wake of the rising rate of autism and special needs on the Island, Pat

continued to work to create more classrooms, to ensure Individual Education

Plans were followed and to advocate for and represent parents and children.

For her service, Pat received too many awards to list. Most notably amoung them

are the 1994 Staten Island Woman of Achievement and the 2009 Richard M.

Silberstein Memorial Award from the Board of Directors of the Staten Island

Mental Health Society.

Pat leaves behind her beloved son, Gerald and his wife, Rita, her dear daughter,

Diane and her adored granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Lauren and Paul

Swords.