Services Scheduled Today for Minnie Miller, 106

Funeral services for Minnie Miller, a 106-year-old Santa Ana resident who attributed her long life to not smoking or drinking, are scheduled for today at Spurgeon United Methodist Church.

She died Tuesday at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.

In a 1985 interview, Mrs. Miller said she “always tried to behave myself. I never smoked or drank. I always thought that was a good recipe. Time just went by so fast. I never thought much about my age.”

Mrs. Miller always had a busy schedule and the day she turned 100 in 1985, the Board of Supervisors presented her with a proclamation before she left to attend a party at the Santa Ana Senior Citizens social club.

Granddaughter Stephanie Bertucci, a Santa Ana resident, said her grandmother was trying to get out of her hospital bed as late as last week to attend a party.

“She was a really great grandma. We’d go to her house for lunch during high school and visit her at the Goodwill,” where she worked as a cashier.

Mrs. Miller moved to Orange County in 1913 with her husband, Harry, who died in 1967 at 79. Their son, Ralph, was killed on Okinawa during World War II.

Mrs. Miller worked in a walnut factory but one of the activities most important to her was taking care of her 71-year-old daughter, Ruth Burton, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and is blind. She and Burton’s son, Gary, took care of Ruth Burton until Mrs. Miller died.

“She was a very giving person who always wanted to do for other people,” Bertucci said. “Her temperament was always with the Lord.”

Mrs. Miller is survived by her daughter, four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Bertucci requested that donations in Mrs. Miller’s memory be sent to the Spurgeon United Methodist Church in Santa Ana or the Set Free Church in Anaheim.