Family and friends will gather January 27 to remember Janet Miller; here’s what they are sharing with the community now:

Janet Virginia Miller – reader, artist, wife, friend, mother, grandmother, aunt – died in her sleep, two months after a stroke, on December 29 in Spokane. She was 81.

The daughter of Harold Eastburg and Jane Humphrey, she was born September 25, 1942 in Spokane. Janet learned to read at 3 and never stopped. Her favorite book was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which she reread annually since she was 10.

She graduated in the first class through Shadle Park High School. She dreamt of becoming a stage actress, a costume designer, a fashion illustrator, and/or a fiction writer. Her vocational profile recommended she become a librarian.

She attended Whitman College for one year, where the only things she learned were “how to drink and smoke.” She returned to Spokane, married Dennis Miller, and had two children and dozens of cats. Following his new job, the family moved to West Seattle in 1977. They were members of West Side Presbyterian Church, she for 39 years. She edited the church newsletter for 25.

Janet and Dennis were married for 45 years before his death in 2007.

She never lost touch with her high-school sweetheart, Dick Gibson, a journalist living in Des Moines, Iowa, talking and writing often. Dick encouraged Janet to move back to her childhood neighborhood, which she did in 2020. They planned on Dick moving back to Spokane too, before his death in 2021.

Over the decades Janet expressed her art by sewing dolls and their clothes, cutting silhouettes, building paper flowers, and making Christmas ornaments. She is known for her Scherenschnitte, the German art of paper cutting, and had drawings published in Paperdoll Review. Her latest craze was building paper house dioramas and pop-ups, such as her annual Christmas card.

She mentored her granddaughters, great-nieces, and a friend’s daughters, by teaching them to express themselves through arts and crafts.

Janet was known for her collection of large, bright earrings. She kept her mind sharp by reading mysteries and literature, following national politics, and beating the rest of us at Wordle.

Janet is survived by her son, Matthew and his partner, Kimberly Kelstone; her daughter, Jennifer and son-in-law Kai Molvik; three grandchildren, Maggie Molvik, K.C. Molvik, and Nathaniel Miller; her cat Sailor; and her friend of fifty years, Pamela Barclay. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dennis; her sweetheart, Dick; and cats too numerous to name.

A memorial service will be 11:00 Saturday morning, January 27, at West Side Presbyterian Church in Seattle.

Janet loved red roses. Or, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; to Wheelchairs for Nigeria; or to your local libraries and schools encouraging young girls to read, write, draw, and dream.

(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries and memorial announcements by request, free of charge. Please email the text, and a photo if available, to westseattleblog@gmail.com)