Lasting Memories
Emmy Lou Miller
Nov. 19, 1922-Oct. 22, 2017
Palo Alto, California
Emmy Lou was born in Lewistown Montana. Her mother, Jean Clifton, was a violinist in a traveling trio (violin, harp, cello) and her father, Albert Heinecke, among other endeavors, had a theater in Lewistown. That’s how her parents met. Albert booked Jean’s trio to play at his theater. It’s no wonder that Emmy Lou had such an adventurous spirit.
The family moved to San Diego, and later Oakland, where Emmy Lou went to high school. At 22 she received her degree in chemistry from U.C. Berkeley, one of the only women in her class. She worked on double base rocket propellants at the Jet Propulsion Lab.
Fast forward a few years. Living in New York. Married. Divorced. One son. Time for a change. A big change. So, in 1960, she loaded her 8-year-old son, Chris, their dog, and their parakeet into the Studebaker and drove from New York to Palo Alto, camping along the way.
Upon landing in Palo Alto (College Terrace) Emmy Lou began working at Stanford with computers. Remember punch cards?
In 1963 she took then 11-year old Chris on a six-week trip around the world. They started in California and ended in New York via Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, Bombay, Cairo, Istanbul, Greece, etc.
In 1969 Emmy Lou went back to school at San Jose State to get her master’s in librarianship. She then worked at the Menlo Park Library in the outreach program taking books to East Palo Alto and East Menlo.
1968 through ’71 was an interesting time in the Miller house in Barron Park. Her son, Chris, was at Gunn High School and her door was always open for neighborhood kids. There were hot-rods in the garage, and Emmy Lou would bring out BLTs for whomever was around and hungry.
At some point in the early 80s, Emmy Lou decided that she wanted to live in Greece for a while. She sublet her house and lived in Athens for a year. Just for fun.
In the 90s, Emmy Lou wanted to live in Hawaii. Again, she sublet her house on La Donna and moved to Hilo, Hawaii, for about five years where she volunteered at the Hilo Public Library.
Other Emmy Lou adventures included mushrooming in Russia, a hot-air balloon ride in Kenya, visiting the Great Wall of China, being active in the Sierra Club, and serving as archivist for the S.F. Mycological Society. So many adventures. She always said that she had “itchy feet," meaning that they had to keep moving.
Emmy Lou’s last four years were spent at Bridgepoint Los Altos. She flourished there. She never lost her endless curiosity and sense of adventure.
As my Aunt Lucille used to say, “After they made Emmy Lou, they broke the mold.” My mother will be deeply missed and lives forever in our hearts.
July 12, 2020
What a lovely summary of Emmy and her approach to life. Living in Barron Park since 2003, I pass by Emmy's house daily either on bicycle or on dog walks and think of her nearly as often. I had the pleasure of meeting Emmy when needing to borrow a wheelchair for my visiting mother with a limited walking range. She offered and I was welcomed into her tidy, cheerful, energetic home. Even into her 90's I could see she radiated energy. It is no surprise that she When returning the wheelchair I had the good fortune of speaking with her son, who chuckled about his high school years. Paraphrasing, "Sometimes I would come home from Gunn and my friends and I would find my mother on the roof enjoying a glass of wine." In this busy modern life it is easy to speed through our days and miss sharing our curiosity and "itchy feet" experiences with our children. In this time of sheltering in place perhaps I'll haul my knitting or a good book up on the roof and raise a glass (of beer) to Emmy, adding to our own "remember when" stories. Thanks for sharing this remembrance, and hoping you are carrying on your mother's spirit.