Dee Dee Miller Leaves Legacy for Geauga County Healthcare
The late Dee Dee Miller’s dedication, love and service to others is one of the reasons her husband, Bill Miller, and his family started a scholarship at Kent State University – Geauga for future nurses in her memory.
The late Dee Dee Miller’s dedication, love and service to others is one of the reasons her husband, Bill Miller, and his family started a scholarship at Kent State University – Geauga for future nurses in her memory.
“Dee Dee was the ultimate caregiver throughout her life,” Bill said in a recent statement about his wife, who passed away Jan. 14 from breast cancer at the age of 56. “She spent her entire life helping others with medical issues and a myriad of life concerns.”
Dee Dee and Bill met in college and married soon after. Bill received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and an executive MBA from Kent State University. Dee Dee earned her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Kent State University in 1985.
“Dee Dee loved her nursing school experience. She loved her professors, her clinicals and made some lifelong nursing friends,” Bill said, adding their educational experiences at Kent State were carried with them throughout their lives.
Bill lived on and off campus and took several English and History courses at the Geauga campus in Burton Township.
“We started the scholarship to honor Dee. When she was 12 years old, her mother died of breast cancer and Dee helped raise her younger brother. And four weeks before Dee died, she was doing cancer research for a friend who had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer,” Bill said, adding Dee Dee’s caring attitude is what made her successful as a nurse at University Hospitals.
Even after raising her three boys, she returned to UH Geauga Medical Center to serve on its board and ultimately became the chairperson.
“Dee Dee was truly a special person,” said John Fitts, chairman of the UH Geauga Medical Center Board. “She served with me on the UH Geauga Medical Center Board for many years and was our chairperson during her final days. She was talented, insightful, creative, knowledgable, well spoken and relentless. She had all the qualities of an effective leader, and, as a leader on the UHGMC Board, she was driven to ensure that its patients would always receive the best quality care and be treated with respect and dignity.
“We have all benefitted from her tireless pursuit of these objectives,” Fitts added. “When Dee Dee left us, it created a void that cannot be filled. She lived a life that mattered and one we should all seek to emulate.”
Recently, as a tribute to Dee Dee for her dedication to UH Geauga, the Dee Dee Miller Fund for Hospice & Palliative Care was started. According to KSU- Geauga, this fund will help UH Geauga deliver attentive, compassionate care to those going through one of life’s most difficult situations. With the support of her UH Seidman Cancer Center team, Dee Dee survived and thrived for five years after her initial diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer.
“Kent State Geauga and University Hospitals are great partners,” said Angela Spalsbury, dean and chief administrative officer of KSU-Geauga said. “Our bachelor of science in nursing program in Burton places students at UH Geauga for their clinicals and UH Geauga recently supported our campus’ efforts to purchase a SIM Man 3G to enhance our students’ learning.
“We are thrilled that the Miller family has decided to create the endowed scholarship at our campus,” Spalsbury continued. “The scholarship will be awarded to a student enrolled at the Geauga campus with a 3.5 GPA, who is employed at UH Geauga, or has a family member currently employed there.”
The goal of the scholarship is to support a student with $2,000 to $3,000 toward their education costs, according to KSU. This amount is typically the “gap” juniors and seniors will experience when their financial aid and Pell Grants run out.
“We are firm believers in helping people attain their educational goals. We don’t believe families and individuals should have to suffer debt to receive an education,” Bill said. “Our goal in establishing the Dee Dee Miller Nursing Scholarship is to provide the medical world with more nurses like Dee.”
For more information on the scholarship, contact Molly Smith at msmit68@kent.edu or call 440-834-3761. For more information on the Dee Dee Miller Fund at UH Geauga, contact Emilie Gottsegen at 440-285-6595.
