Lulu

MARY LOUISE MILLER

OCTOBER 10, 1923 - SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

Mary Louise Miller of Chaparral Country Club, Palm Desert, passed away after a brief illness, at Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, on Wednesday, September 9, surrounded by her loving family. She was 85.

She was the daughter of Margaret Louise and Raymond F. Conover of Verona, New Jersey, and the sister of the late Raymond F. Conover, Jr. of Bethany, Connecticut.

Mary Lou was a graduate of the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia, earning a degree in Elementary Education. Raising a family in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, she was active in the PTA as a room mother, as the chief den mother in the Cub Scouts, as a United Way volunteer, as treasurer and long-time member of the Montclair Junior League, and the Upper Montclair Garden Club, where she won prizes for floral exhibits. When she and her family moved to Atherton, California, Mary Lou served as Vice President and long-time member of the Allied Arts Guild of the Stanford Children’s Hospital, as a member of the Peninsula Chapter of the Junior League, as President of Menlo-Atherton United parent organization, which supported diversity at Menlo-Atherton High School, and as a member of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and the California Association for the Retarded.

After retiring to Palm Desert, she assisted children at Jimmy Carter Elementary School in the reading program. She enjoyed playing with several bridge groups at the Chaparral Country Club, and was a member of the Palm Desert Community Presbyterian Church.

She is survived by her husband, Robert Miller of Palm Desert, her sister-in-law, Kay Conover, of Old Lyme, Connecticut, sons, Robert Miller and his wife, Alice, of Sun City, Palm Desert, Peter Miller and his wife, Priscilla, of Reston, Virginia, Mark Miller and his wife, Sandy, of Reedsport, Oregon, and daughter, Margaret Miller of Boise, Idaho. She was lovingly known as Lulu to her seven grandchildren: Lydia Miller and Ann Parsons and her husband, Edward, of San Francisco, Matthew Miller and his wife, Lynn, of Highland, California, Charles Miller of Charlottesville, Virginia, Alyssa Scovel and her husband, Aaron, of Nehalem, Oregon, Christy Miller of Beaverton, Oregon, and Cameron Fletcher of Boise, Idaho; and great grandchildren Ethan and Noah Scovel of Nehalem, Oregon.

Private services were held at the home. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Coachella Valley Rescue Mission at P. O. Box 10660, Indio, California. 92202.