Elizabeth Miller

Elizabeth "Betts" Miller

1927 - 2010 NEW LEBANON, NY Elizabeth "Betts" Steele Miller, 82, of New Lebanon died on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Fairview Commons Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Great Barrington, Mass., after a hip fracture in October of 2008 and resulting long illness.

Born in Osceola Mills, Pa., on Oct. 6, 1927, Betts was the daughter of Charles and Agnes Pehutski Steele. She was the wife of the late Joseph J. Miller, who died on Feb. 5, 2003.

Betts and Joe were married in Buffalo on July 2, 1960, and stories have it that the wedding was "the event of the summer" because Andy Williams was there to sing. After moving to New Lebanon from Colorado, Betts and Joe lived in Canaan and New Lebanon for 47 years. During their marriage, they enjoyed traveling to Switzerland, Austria, Ireland/Britain/Wales and Scotland and cruising to Mexico, the Caribbean and Alaska.

Betts was an active member of her community, belonging to the library book club, the New Lebanon Women's club, the Lebanon Valley Seniors and a Women's Bible Study Group in Canaan. She was also an active member of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in New Lebanon and enjoyed the newly established Ministry Group most recently. On the day she broke her hip, Betts had enjoyed the trip the Ministry took to Cambridge, N.Y., to see the Monks of New Skete Monastery and to have lunch at the Cambridge Hotel.

Betts was an athletic woman in her life; she enjoyed tennis, golf and downhill skiing. She also loved to cook, with baking being a specialty. She is best known for her "Polish Butterhorn" cookies at holiday time and would frequently bring other kinds of cookies everywhere she went. Her family and friends will greatly miss her "Grammy B bread."

Mrs. Miller was raised and educated in Pennsylvania. She attended nursing school at Amsterdam Memorial Hospital and furthered her education at the University of Buffalo. She was a registered nurse and worked in Saratoga Springs before travelling to and working as an operating room nurse in Alaska and Hawaii. Betts worked locally at the Canaan Clinic for many years before retiring in the 1990s. Folks there knew her as "Liz" or "Lizzie."

She leaves her two children, Pat and husband Dan Fabiano of Richmond, Mass., Stephanie and her husband John Proffitt of Anchorage, AK. Betts also leaves her two adored grandchildren, Arielle and Karissa, who knew Betts as "Grammy B," as well as her brother-in-law, Dave Miller, and his wife, Mary Lou, in Rochester, and many nieces and nephews.

Betts was the last surviving of the Steele siblings: Helen Johnson of Pa., Matt Royal of N.J., Dorothy Eggleston of Saratoga Springs, Irene Demcheck of Pa, and Charles "Bud" Steele of Florida.

FUNERAL NOTICE: A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday April 10 at 11 a.m. in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Route 20, New Lebanon NY. Relatives and friends are invited to the church to greet the family starting at 10 a.m.. Private interment will take place in the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery.

Donations in Betts' memory in lieu of flowers may be made to: the Rett Syndrome Research Trust, the International Rett Syndrome Foundation or the Hospice Care in the Berkshires in care of: Hall & Higgins Funeral Home, PO Box 9, Stephentown, NY 12168.