Living One Day at a Time
Ada Miller, who is celebrating her 101st birthday,
is hugged by her daughter, Jean Weaver, at Landis Homes. August 6, 2009
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal-New Era
Living One Day at a Time
By Lori Van Ingen, Staff Writer
Contracting polio as a young girl didn't keep Ada McMichael Miller down.
It just made her more determined.
That determination -- along with her faith, family, friends, positive attitude and sense of humor -- helped Miller along her life's journey of 101 years. Miller said she never thought she'd reach the milestone.
"I took it one day at a time," she said.
Her daughter, Jean Weaver, said, "Mother taught us how to live and how to face the end of life. She never complains."
Born Aug. 6, 1908, in Herrville, Pequea Township, she was the seventh of 10 children of Edward Herman and Martha Groff McMichael. Her four brothers and five sisters are deceased. Her mother died when Miller was 13.
She recalled, as a child, her family drove a horse and buggy to Willow Street and then took the bus into Lancaster to attend East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church.
Miller attended the one-room Herrville School in Pequea Township through 8th grade. She said her favorite subjects were reading, spelling and math.
She wanted to become a teacher, but that dream didn't materialize.
Instead, she had a part-time job making firecrackers in Pequea Valley before she married H. Claude Miller.
She met her future husband at a fire near her home. "I saw him there and he asked me out," she said.
They dated three years before marrying on June 30, 1930. She remembered they honeymooned in Canada, along with her sister and her husband -- who sat in the rumble seat of the Millers' Ford Roadster.
Miller said while they were in Kitchener, Ontario, they visited a girl she had corresponded with for 10 years through Words of Cheer, a Mennonite youth paper.
The Millers were married almost 65 years when Claude died in 1995. The couple had five children, Darlene, wife of Lloyd Herr; Donald, husband of Ruth Weaver Miller; Jean, wife of the late Harry E. Weaver; the late Darwin "Sam," husband of Gladys Swinehart Miller; and the late Jane Glick, wife of the late Jacob Glick Jr. They also had 14 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
The Millers farmed in Strasburg Township and were standholders for at least 10 years at the former Southern Market in Lancaster, where they sold vegetables in season, as well as chickens.
Miller is the oldest living member of Strasburg Mennonite Church and is a member of its sewing circle.
She also belongs to Refton and Lampeter Ladies Auxiliary and Farm Women No. 13.
She volunteered at Ambassadors for Christ and Lancaster Blind Association, helping with mailings and other volunteer work.
Miller is a charter member and had served as secretary of Willow Street Senior Citizens.
She moved to Landis Homes Retirement Community in Lititz in 1995. "They have taken wonderful, wonderful care of her," Weaver said.
"We have fun," said licensed practical nurse Eileen Vest.
"She helps me with all four verses of hymns by memory. She loves Bible verses and spelling. She has a good mind for these things."
She loves to play bingo and always has to have "good chocolate and cheese," she said.
Miller also gives all the nurses advice on their love lives and how to take care of children and a husband.
"She'd have us all married off," Vest said. Miller tells them to keep a husband happy you must be happy yourself, she said.
E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com
© Lancaster Newspapers 2009
Message sent to all to team members from Larry:
"It is great seeing the attached article honoring the life of 101-year old resident Ada Miller in today's Lancaster Newspaper . Thanks for all you do to honor and enrich the lives of residents/clients and their families each day here at Landis Homes!"
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