T. Miller, 44; Teacher Praised for Heroism at Columbine

Theresa Miller, a Columbine High School teacher who ran through the hallways warning people during the 1999 massacre, died of colon cancer Monday in Littleton, Colo. She was 44.

Miller taught for 20 years in the Jefferson County School District. She was head of Columbine’s science department for the last two years and was its Teacher of the Year in 2001.

“She was a true hero and an inspiration to all of us,” Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis said Tuesday. “She wasn’t sure if she would live or die on April 20, and her life was spared only to find out she had cancer.”

The diagnosis came a few months after two students attacked the school April 20, 1999, setting off explosives and killing 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves.

Miller, who was on hall duty at the time, extinguished a fire started by a pipe bomb, led dozens of students to safety and stayed with fellow teacher Dave Sanders as he bled to death from gunshot wounds.

The next day, President Clinton noted Miller’s heroism in an address to the nation.

“Theresa had an appointment to see her doctor just after April 20 and with everything that happened, she had to reschedule,” DeAngelis said. “It wasn’t until that summer that she was diagnosed with colon cancer, and two years later it moved to her lungs.”

Miller was born in Roswell, N.M., and graduated from New Mexico State University.

Besides teaching, she volunteered in elementary schools, as well as working with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and YMCA.

Miller taught right up until the end, leaving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

She is survived by her husband and three children.