Helen Blankenagel Miller

Helen Blankenagel Miller, 91, died Sunday, April 30, 2017, in Southmont of Presbyterian SeniorCare, Washington.
She was born March 9, 1926, in Delaware, Ohio, a daughter of John C. and Caroline Jesse Blankenagel. She grew up in Middletown, Conn., where her father was professor of German language at Wesleyan University.
In 1948, Mrs. Miller received a bachelor of arts degree from Swarthmore College, majoring in French. She studied at Columbia University's School of Library Science, from where she earned a master of science degree in 1951.
She then worked as a civilian librarian with the U.S. Army in West Germany until 1954, when she returned to the United States to accept a plum position as a reference librarian at New York Public Library in Manhattan, N.Y. Decades before Google and Wikipedia rendered her job description obsolete, she commanded a desk surrounded by encyclopedias, almanacs, digests, research guides and other literary resources, tasked with the librarian's mandate for certitude to answer with dispatch serious and sometimes offbeat questions, such as, "What is the lifespan of a human eyelash?" (Answer: 150 days.)
Mrs. Miller loved the outdoors and was its celebrant in hiking, camping, canoeing and skiing. It was while on a ski trip in Utah in the late 1960s she met Richard G. Miller Jr., a lawyer and confirmed bachelor from Washington. A mutual attraction quickly developed, and they were on a ski lift when Dick abruptly asked her to marry and live with him in Washington. Giving his proposal the consideration decorum required, she almost immediately accepted. They married April 2, 1970, and she set up residence in the Miller household. Perfect life partners, they attended cultural events in Pittsburgh and traveled the world, skied in the Rockies and Europe and spent many summers at the Blankenagel cabin on Lake Dubourne in Blind River, Ontario, Canada. Their adventures ended with Dick's death in 2001, but Mrs. Miller continued her world travels – which she planned and memorialized with a librarian's meticulousness – alone, as long as her health permitted.
She was active in several local civic organizations and served on the boards of League of Women Voters, Family Service, Washington County Historical Society and Friends of the Library. A fierce advocate for free public libraries and mindful of the plight of the homeless, Mrs. Miller supported Citizens Library in Washington and Washington City Mission. She would encourage gifts to either organization in her memory.
Mrs. Miller leaves behind many friends, especially Cary and Kristen Jones and their sons, whom she regarded as her family. A voracious reader, she also leaves behind stack upon treasured stack of dog-eared books.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 7, in Washington & Jefferson College Chapel, Old Main, 60 South Lincoln Street, Washington. All are welcome to attend. All other arrangements are private and entrusted to Piatt & Barnhill Funeral Directors Inc., 420 Locust Avenue, Washington, PA 15301.