Loretta Curry Miller
February 4, 1924 - July 20, 2015
1. How she throws her head back when she laughs & how she laughed so heartily 
2. How she always said, "oh heck" to everything from a hangnail to burning something on the stove to not being able to figure out the answer to a crossword clue
3. How she shuffled & bridged a deck of cards so beautifully and how I tried to learn by mirroring her. I still to this day do it backwards.
4. How she let us pinch the skin on the top of her hands and watch it slowly go back down and laugh about the lack of elasticity
5. How when we left her house, she ALWAYS said, "stay out of trouble."
6. How when we said, "you stay out of trouble too, Grama" she would respond with a laugh and something like, "I can't make any promises."
7. How she has a pegboard rack of jewelry and would try on necklace after necklace with us
8. How she always wore a fancy necklace with every outfit... Always!
9. How she always put on her pink or red lipstick after a meal, and then would drink coffee marking the mug with her lipstick
10. How she blew straw wrappers at us every time we went out to eat and then laughed about it...at every restaurant!
11. How she labeled every canned good she ever bought with the date she bought it
12. Her gravy at Thanksgiving (until I found out what was in it!)
13. How she was a dreamer. She would tell me a story about how she used to climb up to the top of the silo on the farm where she grew up in South Dakota, just to see how far out she could see
14. How at age 17, she packed up and moved on her own from Elk Point, SD to SE Washington DC to work & live an adventure & how she walked to work a mile and a half in heels
15. How she taught us to serve by taking us with her to volunteer
16. How every time I said, "Grama would you like to pray?" She'd excitedly say, "oh yes" and bow her head and put her hands together & wait for me to start it up
17. How every Christmas morning she made delicious homemade cinnamon rolls (my mom still continues this tradition today)
18. How at 87 years old, she was excited to try sushi for the very first time and laughed all the way through attempting to use chopsticks and try all kinds of "things she didn't recognize." She may have used the chopsticks to poke things she didn't know!
19. How if you were bending over (even slightly) cleaning up or cooking or gardening or anything really, she'd smack your butt and say, "that was too easy"
20. SuperBowl Sunday with my mom and Grama. For years, just the three of us girls would order more takeout than we could eat and watch the SuperBowl together. My Grama was a sports fanatic and those times were so special
21. How when I asked her once how she knew she loved my Grandpa, she said, "well we dated secretly at the office for a while, and well, he was nice."
22. How she was fiery all the way to the end of her dash on earth. A couple months ago, when I was visiting and just asking her questions and not getting much response. But when I asked her, "you're still a rebel aren't you?" She immediately opened her eyes, looked at me square in the eyes with some fiest and winked!
23. How she never complained and always found joy & laughter in her life, even after losing my Grandpa Jack and my Uncle Rob unexpectedly at way too young ages
24. How she inspired me to dream & set the stage for a legacy of dreamers to come
25. How she always smiled...always...
These are just some of the memories I have of you, my sweet, rebellious, joyful, Grama Loretta Miller. You will always be in my heart.
