OBITUARY: Given by Grandson, Vaughn Miller, on March 7, 1984

Maggie Jane Hutchins Miller
on November 1, 1966
Golden Wedding

Maggie Jane Hutchins Miller

     Maggie Jane Hutchins the oldest child of Jesse Cerenus Hutchins and Nellie Jane Johnson, was born September 14, 1896, in Sanford, Colorado.  She passed away March 4, 1984, in Colorado Springs, at the age of 87.  She was preceded in death by her parents and six brothers and sisters:  Leona Cunningham, Donald Hutchins, Leola Reynolds, Bessie Christensen Terrell, Troy Hutchins, and Clair Hutchins, who died in infancy.  One sister, Louella Reynolds, survives.

     She was married to Willard Richard Miller, November 1, 1916, in Sanford, Colorado.  This marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple.  To this union was born five children, all of whom survive:  Voris Jane Cornum and Richard Herman Miller of Sanford, Morris Clair Miller of La Jara, Enid Marie Lindsey of Colorado Springs, and Janice Dee Bodley of Denver.  She had 23 grandchildren, 22 survive.  She also had 60 great grandchildren, 57 surviving.

     Times were hard when Grandma was a child and she, being the oldest of the family carried quite a load of responsibility, helping her mother with the little children and household and farm chores.

Two Little Sisters,
Onie & Maggie Jane Hutchins

     Grandma didn’t start to school until she was seven years old and she was so happy to have her Uncle Ren Johnson in the same class.  They could only afford one school book between them so for three years they shared books and sat in a double desk together.  Little wonder she loved him like a brother.  Her sister Leona, or “Onie” as they called her, and her Aunt Nina Johnson, who was even younger than Maggie, also started to school at the same time.

     The girls were almost inseparable and, as they grew up, everyone called them “The Johnson Gals”.  They loved to sing, Onie and Nina Soprano and Maggie Alto.  Some of her happiest times would be after they left choir practice and sang all the way home.  She always said, “You could hear us all over town”.  How happy they were when they would take a dozen eggs to the store to exchange for groceries and find that Grandma Hutchins had put an extra egg in the bucket for them to trade for candy.

Nina Johnson, Onie & Maggie Jane Hutchins

     The girls would drive the neighboring cows to the pasture and the worst part for Maggie was when they got home about dark and she still had her cows to milk.  She always said the old kicking cow was one of the dreads of her life.

    Wash day meant scrubbing on the wash board and they always put the clothes through five waters, Onie and Maggie each with their own wash board.  Grandma Hutchins being a fair mother ,when the washing was done, would say, “Now you big girls can rest while the little girls (Ola and Bessie) do the dishes.

     Maggie was baptized in Brother’s Pond west of town, and told of how happy she was to be a little Mormon girl.  She always loved the church, and many of her best times had to do with the twenty fourth of July celebrations and other church activities.   Any time you visited Grandma, she would talk about the church.

     In the spring of the year, many cold windy days were spent following Ren up and down the newly plowed furrows as he with a team of horses and a walking plow turned the soil.  Sometimes they would build a fire at the end of the row so that they could warm their hands.

Maggie Jane & Leola Melvina Hutchins

     Jess Hutchins was a sawmiller and bridge builder so Maggie, or “Midge” as he called her often helped him saw wood with a cross cut saw.  She spent a lot of time in the mountains at the sawmill and sometimes she would be the last of the children to come back to the valley when school started.  She knew that she wouldn’t get to go until it got so cold that they had to shut the sawmill down and she told us about how happy she was when she looked out of the tent one morning and saw snow on the ground and knew she would soon be going back to school.

     As  a young woman, she did housework, cooking, helped out when babies were born and other jobs to earn a little bit of money.

     Grandma was a popular young girl.  She always had plenty of boy friends or “beaus” as she called them.  She told of how she was helping Aunt Maud Reed hang clothes on the line one day when Bill Miller rode in with a load of hay.  Aunt Maud turned to Maggie and said, “Now Midge, when he comes out again you get on the hayrack and ride out with him.  He wouldn’t be a bad catch for you.”  Well, SHE CAUGHT HIM.  It wasn’t long till they went to her parents for consent to be married.

     So with some nice hand made items, some used furniture, a little brown bald faced horse name Jim, an open buggy painted black with red wheels, and sixty dollars in cash they began their marriage, on November 1, 1916.

Maggie and Bill Miller
at their home in Sanford

     The years that followed were busy years for Grandma Maggie, raising five children, taking care of a big garden and canning it, raising chickens and turkeys, churning butter and making bread, working in the Primary and always doing her Relief Society Teaching.

     Their early marriage was spent here in the San Luis Valley, where Daddy Bill farmed and raised livestock.  The children all grew up in Sanford and Nortonville.  They lived on the Norland Ranch, and latter bought a ranch in Alamosa.  Herman always says that Grandma was very strict.  If they got out of line very far they could look forward to the razor strap or at least a good twist of the ear.

Maggie & Bill Miller at their home in Mesa

     As the children grew older and most of them married, Grandma and Grandpa became interested in Mesa, Arizona, because of Uncle Lew Miller.  They first started going down as winter visitors for about three years and then in the fall of 1952 they packed up and permanently moved to Mesa.  The thirty years they spent there were some of the best years of their lives.  The climate was good for their health, they prospered and were able to enjoy life in ways they hadn’t been able to before.  Daddy Bill worked for the Arizona State Agriculture Department.  Grandma Maggie worked at the Southside Hospital.  Later she took a first aid course and did nursing and child care work as well as working in several school cafeterias and the Temple cafeteria.

     They loved to dance and became officers of the senior citizens group where they organized entertainment and activities.  They also did quite a bit of traveling with the group.

     They did a lot of temple work, living “in the shadow of the temple,” as Grandma always said.  Grandma was chairman of the east Mesa Stake Relief Society teachers and was such a dependable quilter that the ward made a special quilt in her honor.  Grandma loved to piece quilt blocks, she had made each grandchild a quilt for their marriage, as long as she was able.

     Daddy Bill filled a Stake Mission and Grandma did missionary work up and down the block, across the street, among her neighbors, and everywhere she went.  She wanted to make a Mormon out of everyone; she never met a stranger.  (Then he told a Vaughn and Hal story.)
     They came up from Mesa to Sanford to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary and were so proud when Sherry and Bob chose that date to be married, November 1st, 1966.

     In 1969, due to Daddy Bill’s failing health, their children advised them to come back to Sanford.  Grandma’s health was still quite good at the time and she was able to take care of Daddy Bill until the time of his death in December, 1971.

     She later returned to her home in Arizona.  Hal and Vaughn  and their families were living there at the time, and Enid and Wayne moved down soon after so she was not alone.

Maggie Jane Miller and Martin Lane

     On November 15, 1972, she married Martin Lane, a fine person whom the family all loved and respected.  It was a good marriage.  Martin was not a member of the church at the time, but Grandma of course, soon took care of that, and Martin learned to love the gospel.  Grandma stood proxy in the temple for his first wife, Edna.  Martin was always so grateful to Maggie for bringing the gospel into his life, and making it possible for he and his wife to be sealed together.  They were active in going to the temple, and they were able to do a lot of temple work for Martin’s family.

       Grandma and Martin spent several summers in Sanford and made quite a few trips to his home in Oregon.  Their marriage lasted almost nine years, when due to Martin’s health (cancer), he went to live with his daughter in California, and soon passed away on October 5, 1981.  During this time, Grandma Maggie returned to Sanford.  She was made very  comfortable at the home of Voris and Duwayne, who built a nice bedroom and bathroom especially for her.  As her health failed, she received loving care from Voris and Duwayne, as well as Debbie, who was such a blessing to her.

     Her grandchildren and other relatives were able to visit with her often, and she loved talking about the old days.  She always had a little joke to tell, and was so interesting.  She would love to set and play her little organ, and sing the hymns.  Her favorite hymn was “How Great Thou Art”.   Even though she was getting up in years, she would still do her Jack-O-Lane exercises.  Not long before she passed away, she could still through her leg up over the kitchen chair, at the amusement of us all.

      Louella and Bessie stopped in to visit, and after Bessie passed away, there was just Louella and Maggie left of the whole Jess Hutchins family, the oldest and the youngest of the children.

      Herman and Morris spent a lot of time with her, and would often stop in for an hour or two.  Enid and Janice also came to see her, and she made several trips to Enid’s.  She had went to visit Enid in Colorado Springs, the middle of February.  This is were she spent her last couple of weeks.  Enid, Wayne, Ray, and Rocky were all with her, as she so quietly passed away in her sleep, on Sunday afternoon, March 4th, 1984.

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