Catherine Roxana Miller

Catherine Miller MUSCATINE, Iowa - Catherine Roxana Miller, 99, of Muscatine, died Wednesday, February 13, 2008, at Unity Hospital, after a brief illness. A program of music and poetry will be held in her memory April 12, 2008, in the Bob Roach Little Theatre at Muscatine Community College. Her family suggests memorial gifts to Heifer International and Oxfam America. She donated her body to the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. Miss Miller was born December 13, 1908, in Storm Lake, the daughter of Alvin H. Palmer and Julia Louisa Jenkins Miller. She was adopted by her stepfather, Earl Alney Miller. She was valedictorian at Cherokee High School (1926) and Sheldon Junior College (1928) and graduated fourth in her class at the State University of Iowa (B.A. 1930, Phi Beta Kappa; M.A. 1932, French-Spanish double majors). She taught French at SUI (1930-40), and then came to Muscatine and taught Spanish and French at the high school and junior/community college (1942-1974). Her students remember her leadership in activities for cultural understanding including an annual Pan-American Fiesta featuring foods and customs of Latin America. She organized cur...[more]

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t and former students to teach English as a second language to Spanish-speaking migrant workers in Muscatine. She sponsored the MHS United Nations Club for 25 years and was an advocate for global education until her death. She completed postgraduate studies in France at the Sorbonne and Angers, Normandie, and at the University of Michigan and Kansas City. A Ford Foundation fellowship for creative teaching paid for her eight-month visit to schools and social work in 18 Latin American countries (1952-1953). Unusually adventurous for a woman of her time, she journeyed a thousand miles by boat up the Amazon River. She spent three summers in public-health work camps in Mexico with the American Friends Service Committee (1948, 1952, 1956), and led a group of Muscatine educators on a study tour in Mexico (1952). She attended world fairs in Paris, Brussels and Montreal, and took study tours to Cuba (1977), China (1979), Soviet Union (1982) and Costa Rica (1990). Altogether, she visited more than 40 countries, promoting international friendship and cooperation. She led the Mayor's U.N. Committee, organizing local the observance of U.N. Day and representing UNICEF (1955-2007). She was a cofounder of the local League of Women Voters and World Federalists groups and was active in the local chapter of the American Association of University Women. She served 11 years on the Musser Public Library board. She presented public programs about her travels and world law, chaired state and local study groups on international relations, and often penned letters-to-the-editor and circulated petitions to Congress or the U.N. She initiated projects assisting migrant workers and Laotian refugees and supported many organizations promoting interpersonal, interracial, intercultural and international peace and understanding. Her activism in later years included participation at the NGO Tribune in Mexico City outside the official conference of the UN's International Women's Year (1975), and the Mississippi Peace Cruise aboard the Delta Queen with 126 fellow Americans and 47 Soviets (1986). In old age, she met daily challenges with energy and grit, and was still writing for the Iowa Peace Links newsletter at age 98. Her honors include Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Sigma Iota, Delta Kappa Gamma, University of Iowa peace leadership citation (1986), Muscatine Community College friend of the college award (1989), Muscatine YWCA award for next generation leadership (1995), Plaza of Heroines recognition at Iowa State University (1995), Muscatine Sister Cities Association life member (1996), Muscatine Human Rights Commission lifetime humanitarian award (2004) and Muscatine Rotary honorary Paul Harris Fellow (2006). She is survived by a nephew, David M. Holcomb and Phyllis of Council Bluffs and a niece, Judith M. (Holcomb) Hancock and William of Council Bluffs; two grandnieces and four grandnephews and their families. She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Wilma Olive (Mrs. Richard L.) Holcomb; and two half-brothers, Dick A. Miller and Frank A. Miller.