Stephanie M (née Wagner) Miller
Stephanie Wagner Miller, whom we always teased as being indestructible after fully recovering at age 99 from both breaking her leg from falling, then suffering a serious head hematoma from tumbling out of her wheelchair, died peacefully in her sleep at 100-and-a-half years old on July 14, 2023.
By her own admission, Stephanie led a life she never would have imagined. Hailing from the small upstate NY town of Lockport, the child of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants Stephen and Mary Wagner, marrying right out of high school, she would go on to hobnob with Presidents and other notable politicians.
Her beloved husband of 40 years was William E. Miller, who served as an assistant prosecutor at the post-World War II Nuremberg trials, 14 years as a U.S. Congressman representing our 42nd then 40th districts, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican National Committee, and finally as Senator Barry Goldwater's Vice-Presidential running mate in 1964. He died in 1983 at age 69.
Stephanie was the ever-supportive political spouse but always made sure her children came first: her two older daughters who grew up in the public limelight of the nation's capital, then her two younger children who grew up back in Lockport, at age 3 and 5 at the time, when her husband's political career ended.
Being widowed for as long as she was married, Stephanie still managed to lead an active, healthy life of tennis, biking, bridge, and traveling. She left upstate NY almost 26 years ago to make her home in North Carolina where two of her four children reside.
She leaves behind four adoring children: Libby Miller Fitzgerald (Paul) of Lynchburg, VA; Mary Miller James (Will) of Salisbury, NC; William Miller, Jr. of Charlotte, NC; and Stephanie Miller, Jr. of Los Angeles, CA; plus six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Stephanie will be laid to rest alongside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.
Stephanie M (née Wagner) Miller
Stephanie Wagner Miller, whom we always teased as being indestructible after fully recovering at age 99 from both breaking her leg from falling, then suffering a serious head hematoma from tumbling out of her wheelchair, died peacefully in her sleep at 100-and-a-half years old on July 14, 2023.
By her own admission, Stephanie led a life she never would have imagined. Hailing from the small upstate NY town of Lockport, the child of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants Stephen and Mary Wagner, marrying right out of high school, she would go on to hobnob with Presidents and other notable politicians.
Her beloved husband of 40 years was William E. Miller, who served as an assistant prosecutor at the post-World War II Nuremberg trials, 14 years as a U.S. Congressman representing our 42nd then 40th districts, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican National Committee, and finally as Senator Barry Goldwater's Vice-Presidential running mate in 1964. He died in 1983 at age 69.
Stephanie was the ever-supportive political spouse but always made sure her children came first: her two older daughters who grew up in the public limelight of the nation's capital, then her two younger children who grew up back in Lockport, at age 3 and 5 at the time, when her husband's political career ended.
Being widowed for as long as she was married, Stephanie still managed to lead an active, healthy life of tennis, biking, bridge, and traveling. She left upstate NY almost 26 years ago to make her home in North Carolina where two of her four children reside.
She leaves behind four adoring children: Libby Miller Fitzgerald (Paul) of Lynchburg, VA; Mary Miller James (Will) of Salisbury, NC; William Miller, Jr. of Charlotte, NC; and Stephanie Miller, Jr. of Los Angeles, CA; plus six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Stephanie will be laid to rest alongside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.
