A Life Worth Remembering: Kay Miller, 40-Year Member of the Drama Group

Kay Miller joined as a performer but quickly became known for her ability with costumes.

“She was always sewing,” said her husband of more than 50 years, Neale Miller. “Even in high school, she made her own prom dress.”

“People always went to Kay for specialty costumes,” said Tina Zagone from the Drama Group. “You couldn’t find a better person than Kay.”

Mrs. Miller, 71, of Crete, died Sept. 5 after a lengthy battle with brain cancer.

Her husband recalls they didn’t hit it off when he first met her as the new girl in school.

“She sat in front of me and I pestered her,” Neale Miller said. “Later, she told me she thought I was obnoxious.”

Their friendship was sealed as freshmen in high school when she broke her ankle tobogganing and Miller carried her to the car and then to his house so his dad, a small-town doctor, could tend to her ankle.

Friendship turned to something else when she asked Miller to a Sadie Hawkins dance at Crete-Monee High School.

They went their separate ways to college. She went to Northern Illinois, and he went to college in Iowa.

The separation was short-lived.

“When we came home for Christmas, I asked her to marry me,” Miller said. They were husband and wife by the time they returned to college as sophomores.

Mrs. Miller was an exceptional athlete and excelled at skiing, ice skating, softball and tennis.

“Kay got to play Bobby Riggs during a Virginia Slims tennis promotion in Chicago,” her husband said. Riggs was famous for being beaten by Billie Jean King in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in 1973. Mrs. Miller was not so lucky, she lost.

While busy being a housewife with four boys, Mrs. Miller yearned for more.

“We were living in Homewood and I came home from coaching one day and Kay said, ‘When is it my turn?’ “

She eventually joined the Homewood Junior Women’s Club and later was elected its president.

She also started acting and directing a local children’s theater group. She could sing and dance and was a fast learner, her husband said.

“She was advised to try out for the Drama Group,” Miller recalls. She did and stayed with the group as a performer, director and costume designer for more than 40 years.

“She loved being the wicked stepmother in Cinderella, which was so unlike the real her,” recalled Zagone, who worked with Mrs. Miller since she joined the Drama Group in the 1970s.

“In a field where there are a lot of egos, Kay was not one,” Zagone said. “She always helped people to be their best. Kay was one of those people who had her fingers in a lot of pies.”

One of her memorable costume jobs was when the Drama Group performed Cats.

“The performances were physical and the costumes kept falling apart,” her husband said. “Kay had to repair the costumes constantly.”

Mrs. Miller developed a taste for traveling after the Drama Group made its first visit to Hastings, England.

“She just had a knack for hooking up with people and connecting,” her husband said. Over the years they visited Russia, Bath, England, and took a cruise down the Danube River in Europe.

Mrs. Miller also was a member of the Crete Heritage Commission, Crete Woman’s Club and past president of the Crete Baseball and Softball Association.

Survivors include her husband, Neale; a sister, Eileen Pressler in Bosnia; sons Mark Miller of Los Angeles, Christopher Miller of Redwood City, CA, Matthew Miller of Lake Villa and Adam Miller of Woodridge; and 10 grandchildren.

“We will have a celebration of her life in October,” said her husband. The celebration will be on Sunday, Oct. 16, at the Willard Wood Center in Crete.

A second memorial will be held for her next year when the Drama Group returns to Hastings.

The Drama Group Dream Team will be walking in Mrs. Miller’s memory during the 13th annual Walk of Hope in Homewood on Oct. 9, sponsored by the Cancer Support Center.