Billie Miskowski

Billie Miskowski, 77, of Birmingham, Michigan and wife of Lee for 49 years, passed away on Saturday, June 22, 2013 surrounded by her family. Billie had a unique personality and truly was one of a kind. She accompanied her husband as they traveled the world and lived in different locations through his time with Ford Motor Company all the while staying true to herself and her values. Universally well-liked, she enjoyed relationships with a wide spectrum of people and personalities. Billie was born in Claremore, Oklahoma on June 30, 1935 to the late James and Ethel Poulson (nee Taramas), both Greek immigrants. She was raised in Toledo, Ohio where she graduated from the University of Toledo with a Bachelor's Degree in Education. She was also a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. Billie worked as a kindergarten teacher in the Dearborn Heights school district for seven years before deciding to stay home and raise a family following the birth of their first daughter, Christine. Truly proud of her Greek heritage, Billie embraced the Greek culture and cuisine by taking pride in her delicious cooking and always stressing the importance of family meals. She remained very close with her sisters throughout their lives. Billie was an active member of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and the Greek community where she developed numerous lifelong friendships. Billie also enjoyed watching movies and dining at Oakland Hills Country Club. Most of all, however, her family and education were of the utmost importance. She instilled the value of a great education in her girls and was a wonderful wife and mother which made her family feel like the most important people in the world. She is survived by her husband, Lee, and two children, Christine Harriss (William, Jr.) and Katherine Conti (Christopher). She also was a devoted grandmother and felt a special pride towards Benjamin Conti. She was preceded in death by two sisters, Christina Poulson and Nora Kaufman. Family will receive friends on Thursday, June 27, 2013 from 4-8pm at A.J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Home (Vasu, Rodgers & Connell Chapel) 32515 Woodward Ave (between 13-14 Mile). A funeral service will be held on Friday, June 28, 2013 at 10:00 am at St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 43816 Wood ward Ave, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48302. Visitation will begin at the church at 9:30am. Entombment will follow at White Chapel Cemetery. Those wishing to make an expression of sympathy are asked to consider St. George Greek Orthodox Church or Hospice of Michigan, 400 Mack Ave., Detroit, MI 48201 in Billie's memory. "Billie" My mother made an impression. It didn't matter whether you had just met Billie in passing or whether you'd known her for years. She was a hard person not to notice. In an increasingly hurried world, where many people slip by unnoticed or unremembered, my mother was not one of them. She took her time doing what she wanted when she wanted. There was nothing vanilla about her. She was a teeny person with a very large personality. Whether she would uninhibitedly take a piece of popcorn out of a bag from a random man standing in front of her in line at a movie, or slink down to the dance floor at the American Embassy club in Bonn, she always had a style of her own that my father would fondly refer to as "the Billie way. " Whatever she did, she did it in "the Billie way" and always made an impression. By the way, her way of doing things frequently got an " oh no not again" reaction from both me and my sister, who, at the time, were both far too young to fully appreciate her unique attitude, her carefree manner and her frequent dismissal for things she thought to be a bit stuffy. She inspired both creativity and independence in both of us and I think she did it rather unknowingly. Halloween in Los Angeles. I'm six years old. Being six, I wanted to be a witch.....yes, with pointy black hat, green painted face and long scary fingernails. Oh no, being a witch was not an option. "A witch...? Everyone will be a witch. I found you the most adorable owl costume, Christine. No one else will be an owl" She was right; no one else was an owl. And certainly not a towering teal and green one.... I can promise you that. Fast forward many years. I'm in college and going through sorority rush. My mother and several of my aunts on both her side and on my father's side were all members of the same sorority...tri delt, which happened to be one of the only five sororities on the Denison campus. I'd seen her sorority pin and had heard stories about my aunt Christina, my aunt Nora, and my aunt Winnie because of all that, I thought that she may have wanted me to pledge that house too. But it just wasn't right for me. I distinctly remember the phone conversation when I called home to discuss this with her. In her typically salty way (and yes, she used her catch phrase here that many of you most certainly know)...she told me I should do what I wanted to...all that mattered to her was that as I was happy. Whether she did it subtly or not so subtly, or even did it consciously, she encouraged us to do our own thing, to be our own people and to find our own way. She made an impression on my friends. Since she passed away, I've heard from friends from Europe, from Cranbrook, , from Denison, from places I've worked. They've reminisced about her being a welcoming lady, talked about how well she fed us, referred to that mischievous look in her brown eyes. They all knew how very special she was and that she really was "one of a kind". She treated all of them.....as she did everyone she met...and I can't tell you how many stories I heard last night…the same, in that special and kind "Billie way"....whether you were a CEO of a huge corporation or her favorite salesperson at Burberry. It just didn't matter to her. She made an impression. She made a difference. And that won't be forgotten. Thank you, mom. Over the past few days, so many of you have shared kind thoughts about my mom. Certain words and phrases seem to come up again and again. Just to pick a few: "oneof- a-kind," "beautiful," "wonderfully engaging," "a firecracker," "a special lady," "a trip," "definitely unique in her own Billie way," and "so much fun." One person said that, "When you were with Billie and her sister Chris, you could always expect pure laughter and tell-it-like-it-is insight." In the words of my brother-in-law Jason, "Holidays just won't be the same." Always true to herself, there was never any question as to what was going through my mom's head. If it was in her head, it came out of her mouth. She always spoke her mind and you always knew right where you stood with her. And people respected her for that. It didn't matter who you were. You could be the CEO of Ford or you could be a waitress at a Ford event. My mom treated everyone the same. If she liked you, she liked you. If she didn't, you probably knew it. Much to my father's chagrin, my mom loved using four-letter words. She wasn't always proper and she wasn't always politically correct. But that's what people loved about her. She was never phony and she didn't like people who were. When she first met my brother-in-law Bill, she pointed to his curls and asked if he permed his hair. She once told a close friend that her baby's eyes were spaced too close together. In the past few days, I've heard rumblings of an incident in which my mom decided to argue a point with Geoffrey Feiger. My mom is just about the only person I can think of that could help herself to someone else's popcorn in a movie theater and get away with it... even make a new friend. True story. For being such a tiny person, food was very important to my mom. Maybe the most important thing. That and her coffee. As my husband Chris always says, "Billie starts thinking about what she's going to have for dinner before she even finishes her lunch." Growing up, she was a great cook and we always sat down for family dinners. "Never trust a skinny chef." Not so with Billie. She loved her Sanders Hot Fudge Cream Puffs and the rest of the desserts that my dad would make for her each and every night. Our son Ben sure got a kick out of his Gia Gia. I know he will always remember taking her for wild rides in her wheelchair and Gia Gia putting so many packets of Equal in her coffee and taking a few too many coffee creamers from restaurants. My mom liked to have a good time. She loved her Canadian Club and, when she could no longer drive, she had been known to offer people large sums of money for a couple of packs of cigarettes. My mom was a great dancer. My dad, not so much. She had no trouble finding other suitable dance partners. For those of you who knew her two equally unique sisters, Nora and Chris, you can imagine that celebrations that are taking place right now. As one person put it, "Heaven will come alive with the reunion of the Poulson sisters." At the end of the day, my mom was a simple person. While she certainly liked nice things, she didn't care about impressing anyone. She liked her food, she liked her coffee, she liked watching movies, and, most importantly, she loved her family. As much as she was truly one of a kind, we all have bits and pieces of Billie in us. I got her physical appearance, my sister got her love and talent for cooking, Ben got her strong will, and my dad... well, he just got more and more Greek over the years. Her legacy lives on in all of us. Sometimes, you never really knew what you were going to get with my mom. But the one thing that my mom always was, was Billie. We love you, Mom. Katie Miskowski Conti