Charlotte Ingrid Miller

After a long, loving, laughter-filled life, Charlotte Ingrid Miller died on Sunday, July 10, 2022 at home with her family. She was 77 years old. A memorial service and celebration of her life will be held in Denver on
Saturday, August 27, 2022. Details for the service are available here: https://www.facebook.com/100000200825513/posts/pfbid02z1sRDqihu2vfp2VaDAURJZaPUF92qsTFUzujHJ7ncPb3i4UrAgqzHVuuigfBZACcl/?sfnsn=mo

Charlotte was born in Quito, Ecuador where her father worked for the U.S. Government. She was second eldest of six children. After growing up in Mexico, North Carolina, New York and Maryland, she attended Carleton College in Minnesota, followed by graduate schools in Indiana, New York, and Florida. After doing research in Brazil, she received a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Florida in 1976. She also married Rob Werge and moved to Peru in 1976. That was a busy year.

In Peru, she began her career consulting on international development projects, principally in the Amazon basin. The family moved back to the United States in 1979. After a stint of college teaching, she began working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC on development and trade projects. She worked in a number of countries: Nepal, Burma (Myanmar), Peru, Niger, Kenya, Senegal and others. Her favorite work trip was a three-week investigation of fois gras production in the south of France. She retained her job for the USDA when she and Rob moved to Colorado in 1997, retiring in 2007.

She started a family with Rob in Peru, giving birth to Ingrid (1977) and Tom (1978). The family expanded when Robin/José, a refugee from the civil war in El Salvador, came to live with the family in 1984. Charlotte and Rob adopted José in 1988. All of her children attended college and completed graduate school: Ingrid Werge (psychology and social work), Thomas Werge (law) (spouse Halie Crocker Werge), and José Robinson Caéas (education) (spouse Nelcy Perez). Over the past two decades, the family further expanded to include nine grandchildren: José Jr., Alejandro, Freya, Dylan, Addie, Miles, Ian, Alton and Annie.

Charlotte was preceded in death by her mother and father Hazel and Eilif Miller, and her brother Fred Miller. Together with her husband, children, and grandchildren, she is also survived by her brother Peter Miller (Karin), sisters Rebecca Wehrly (Steve), Gayle Brody (Charles) and Margaret Wolff (Tony), brother-in-law Thomas Werge, sister-in-law Mary Miller, and her cherished nieces and nephews Ed, Kathy, Andy, Ben, Teddy, Kristin, Jens, Mark, Caroline, James, Kathryn, Peter, Greg and Eric.

In addition to her family, Charlotte's passion was social justice and peace. She worked tirelessly on local and national levels for various Quaker organizations. She was also active in politics, especially in Fort Collins, including as vice chair of the Larimer County Democratic Party. She was deeply committed to Quaker causes, principles and practices. She lived by the adage "Let your life shine." She loved music and cooking, including playing piano and singing, and baking cakes for every birthday occasion.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her honor can be made to the Mountain View Friends Meeting, 2280 S Columbine St., Denver, CO 80210, or to the American Friends Service Committee, www.afsc.org.