Mae Josephine Miller

KEWANEE - Mae Josephine Miller, 98, of Kewanee, died at 12:15 a.m., Thursday, April 8, 2021 at Hammond-Henry Hospital Long Term Care in Geneseo.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m., Monday, April 12 at Rux Funeral Home in Kewanee. Visitation will be held one hour prior to services. Cremation will take place following the services with inurnment at a later date at Wethersfield Cemetery. Memorials can be directed to Abilities Plus, Compassus, First Presbyterian Church in Kewanee or to Mooseheart.

She was born on May 5, 1922 in Kewanee, the daughter of Don and Vinnie (Denny) Miller. She is survived by three nieces, Mary DeClercq, Betty (Bill) Briggs and Helen (Ron) McMillan, all of Kewanee, a nephew, George Turnbull of Wheaton, IL, three great nephews, John (Becky) DeClercq and Michael (Kara) DeClercq, both of Kewanee and Willie Briggs of Leesburg, FL, four great nieces, Connie Briggs of Kewanee, Amie (Jason) Olson of Galva, Tamie Rowland of Tampico and Jamie (Duane) Wilson of Kewanee, eight great grand nephews, five great grand nieces, one great- great grandniece and two great- great grandnephews and extended family from Mooseheart, Sharyn, Patty, Martha and Joseph Harvey, all of Aurora, IL. She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, Robert Miller, a sister, Mary Jane Stansbury and a sister and brother-in-law, Norma (Merwyn) Turnbull and William and Shawn Harvey.

Mae graduated from Wethersfield High School in 1940. She graduated from Illinois State with a Bachelor of Education in 1944. She furthered her education at the University of Illinois, obtaining her Master’s Degree in Education in 1956 and her Advanced Certificate in Education in 1961. She had co-authored three educational publications: A Teacher’s Manuel: Projects with Penny, in 1954, Illinois Teacher of Home Economics, Vol V.#7 in 1962 and Illinois Teacher of Home Economics, Vol.#9 in 1962. She spent over 40 years teaching home economics in the following schools, Victoria (1944-1946), Bradford (1947), Franklin School (1948), Santa Fe Jr. High (1949-1952) as a missionary teacher in a Presbyterian mission school in Santa Fe, NM, Cambridge (1952-1958) and Mooseheart School from 1959 to 1985, where she eventually retired. She was an 88-year member of the First Presbyterian Church in Kewanee since 1931. In 1997, she was honored as a special witness at the National Presbyterian Women’s Gathering in Louisville, KY for the way she lived her life as a disciple of Christ through the many deeds she had done for others in the continuing service to the church.

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