Article Contributed on: 10/20/2009 10:21:26 AM
Laura Miller was at home cutting grass on her riding lawn mower when flowers came in acknowledgment of her addition to the Jefferson County Historical Commission Hall of Fame.
Each year the commission honors two people: one deceased and one living. Miller, who lives in unincorporated south Jefferson County, will be inducted Oct. 23 during a ceremony from 5 to 8 p.m. at Copperfield's Event Center, 4901 Marshall St., Wheat Ridge. It is open to the public.
Marjorie "Bunny" Clement, a former county commissioner and early visionary for Open Space also was nominated. She died in 2004.
Honorees are selected based on their contribution to county history or preservation.
"I got my feet wet in politics working for school bond issues, which is harder than running for office," said Miller, who is petite and spry at 90.
A San Antonio, Texas native, Miller said, "I married in 1942. My husband worked for Ingersoll Rand after the war and they transferred him to Colorado. This is like coming home to an old Texas girl."
She lives on five acres in the house she and her husband built and where they raised their two children. She said her interest in education and love of libraries were forces behind her long-time activity in local issues.
Quick to put priorities in order, she said, "I'm a mother, grandmother, great grandmother and wife and I'm proud of my involvement and the community I supported."
Miller said, "I was just a little homebody. I was president of the PTA the year Bear Creek school burned down in 1959. The school was so small there were 600 kids in six grades."
Miller later became active in supporting the formation of the R-1 Jefferson County School district, which consolidated 35 small school districts into one.
She worked on seven or eight bond issues and was honored for work as former chairwoman of the Jefferson County Library Board from 1967 to 1976. In 2003 she was awarded a Distinguished Friend of the Library award. She served as a state representative from 1971 to 1976 and was on the School Names Advisory Committee for 47 years.
In that capacity she and other committee members met whenever a new school was to be built to approve of the name of the school.
Angela D'Aurio has worked with Miller on campaigns for 30 years. She said Miller was politically astute and still retained her influence.
"If she didn't like something, she had no problem telling you. When she was supportive of something, she gave 100 percent," said D'Aurio.
"I really look back and think I can't take credit for these things, because I didn't do them by myself. I saw a problem and brought people along with me," Miller said.
Now, she admits to going to bed early, but can't watch TV without something to keep her busy, so she works on cross-stitch patterns. Crafts, gardening and feeding the birds are part of her daily ritual, but she hasn't lost her love of campaigning, evident by the sign for a school board member mounted in the front yard.