Gertrude "Trudy" Nora Brittain-Miller Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

GERTRUDE NORA BRITTAIN-MILLER "TRUDY" 1921 – 2016 "A Life Lived Well and Much Loved" Gertrude "Trudy" Nora (Taylor) Brittain-Miller passed away peacefully, surrounded by family-members, on Saturday, April 2, 2016 at the age of 94 years, 11months, and 20 days at her residence in Waleska, GA. She was born on April 12, 1921 the ninth of ten children born to Roy and Gertrude Nora (Piper) Taylor in Plattsmouth, NE. Trudy was raised and schooled in Plattsmouth and she attended Plattsmouth High School. Trudy was an active member of First United Methodist Church, serving as President of United Methodist Women, Supt. of Sunday Schools, and Sunday school teacher among other roles. She liked organizing the fall dinners/bazaars, rummage-sales, bake-sales, wedding receptions, and funeral luncheons. She was active in many activities involving her children: Room-mother year after year, PTA president several times, Bluebird and Campfire leader, which meant going on campouts with daughters. She was an avid PHS band parent, cooking yumburgers, and helping at the bandstand during the fall Korn Karnivals to help raise monies for band trips and new uniforms. Trudy was a strong, loving, single Mom, who bravely faced many challenges. She will be remembered as a checker at the Hinky-Dinky store, winning the Checker-of-the-year award by popular vote of the customers. She was one of the first employees at Winterset Inn, where she met Chef Art Miller. He was the first to call her Trudy. After moving to Lincoln, Trudy became a licensed-electrologist, and was employed at Havland-Swanson. Trudy enjoyed designing school clothes, homecoming and prom formals. She could sketch a dress from a store window or catalog, and then recreated that item for her daughters. As a grandmother, she designed and sewed baby quilts and embroidered baby jackets, for each of her fourteen grandchildren, and her forty great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. Also as they have married, she has gifted each of them with a wedding quilt. After the death of her husband Art, in 1982, she moved to Georgia and began a new career as a dorm director to forty girls at Reinhardt College in Waleska. After fifteen years, she retired from Reinhardt College, at the age of seventy-five, holding the distinction of the oldest dorm director. Trudy generously made gifts for family and friends, such as pillowcases, aprons, hot pads, baby quilts, and jackets. She made over a thousand pillowcases with cartoon themes for children in three hospitals. Trudy loved to communicate with her family. Even with the family living sometimes far apart, she found a way to shorten the miles between us. She was always interested in the daily lives of her large family. She kept track of the many birthdays, anniversaries, and births, always writing letters/cards for every occasion, and liked to decorate her envelopes with colorful stickers. Oftentimes she included her original poetry. She began at an early age to write poetry and short stories to entertain her family. Her children have large scrapbooks containing her many poems and stories. Learning to read in Kindergarten at Wintersteen Hill School, started her on a lifetime of reading and collecting books. She always enjoyed reading to her children, taking them to the Plattsmouth Public Library to get their library cards, even before they learned to read. Trudy had many hobbies. She was an avid card-player, learning to play at an early age with her father and brothers. She loved to play spirited games of Rummy and pinochle with all ages of her family. She loved to plan fun Bingo games for her family, especially when they came to visit in Lincoln, and on Hardscrabble Hill in Missouri. Everyone won fun, unique gifts and enjoyed Grandma calling out the numbers until there was a Bingo! She also loved being in the stitch and chatter club. Another hobby was making many varieties of jelly to give at Christmas, along with her famous monkey-bread for her family, and as a thank you for her many friends. One of her joys was cooking for her family, especially her homemade chicken and noodles, and orange or strawberry sponge-cake for every birthday. Swiss-steak was one of her favorite meals to fix for large family gatherings. Holidays, especially Christmas, were special times for Trudy. She always made decorated sugar cookies, popcorn balls and pies. She gave gifts to every member of her family, no matter how large her family grew. She liked to make 'memory-pictures', which were tree-ornaments that had pictures of each family member. Her family fondly remembers the fun of Easter-egg coloring and hunting for eggs on Hardscrabble Hill. Trudy enjoyed having flowers inside and outside her home, wherever she lived. She had large pots of geraniums and petunias, and many varieties of cactus. Trudy Miller had many varied jobs through the years: Factory-worker, waitress, checker, electrologist, and dorm director to forty young women for fifteen years. But, by far, she thought that the most important job that she ever had was Mom to: Carolyn, Linda, Barbara, and David. Left to cherish her memories are her four children: Carolyn (Robinson, Jacobs) Burkholder and husband Dan of Waleska, GA; Linda (Brittain) Todd of Papillion, NE; Barbara (Brittain) Good and husband Jim of Versailles, MO; David Miller and wife Joy of Bennet, NE; fourteen grandchildren: Dan Jacobs of Friendswood, TX; Scott Jacobs of Atlanta, GA; Susan Jacobs-Meadows and husband Michael of Atlanta, GA; Mitchell Todd of Papillion, NE; Terry Todd of Nebraska City, NE; Aimee Petereit of Plattsmouth, NE; Jeffrey Todd of Council Bluffs, IA; Jenny Pohlmeier and husband Steve of Erie, IL; Erin Pedersen and husband Travas of Plattsmouth, NE; Christa Rhoades and husband Tom of Linn, MO; Wendy Kost of Jefferson City, MO; Eric Miller of Omaha, NE; Anne Dorn and husband David of Firth, NE; Janice Fowler and husband Don of Waleska, GA; twenty nine great grandchildren, eleven great great grandchildren, sister: Phoebe (Taylor) Fisher of Beatrice, NE; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, special longtime friend: Ben Pruett of Ashville, NC; caregivers: Lee, Janice, and Candice, and many friends. She was preceded in death by her parents: Roy and Gertrude continued... 1 2 Next ...continued Taylor, her five brothers: Marion, Lester, Chester, Oliver, and Keith Taylor, three of her sisters: Alfarata Rice, Vivian Jensen, Jewel Whipple, and her husband: Art Miller. Visitations will be held from 6:00 to 8:30 P.M., Friday, April 15, 2016 at First United Methodist Church in Plattsmouth. A Funeral Service will be held at 10:30 A.M., Saturday, April 16, 2016 at First United Methodist Church in Plattsmouth with Pastor Belinda Davidson officiating and Donna Glynn as organist. The Pallbearers will be Dan Jacobs, Scott Jacobs, Susan Jacobs-Meadows, Eric Miller, Jeff Todd, Mitch Todd, and Terry Todd. Her Final Resting Place will be at Oak Hill Cemetery in Plattsmouth, alongside her grandparents David and Lucy Taylor. In lieu of flowers, the family suggest memorials to the Plattsmouth Public Library Foundation. Previous 1 2

Gertrude "Trudy" Nora Brittain-Miller

April 12, 1921 - April 2, 2016