Laura Miller, 85, Was Resident of Chilmark

Vineyard visitor since 1959 and Chilmark resident from 1977 through 2001, Laura Miller was attended by her family in her Sarasota home when she died Nov. 7, 2004, roughly three weeks after a heart attack. She was 85.

She was born Dec. 19, 1919 in New Jersey, where she lived roughly half her life. She lived in Fanwood, Free Acres and Mountainside. Free Acres was a social experiment where people could own houses but not the land. The community was founded on the ideals of Henry George, a 19th century political economist. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1943 and NYU Law School in 1945.

In 1959 she saw an ad in the New Yorker for the "Isle of Escape" and brought her family for an experimental summer visit at the Menemsha Inn. That became a summer pattern. Beginning in 1977, she and her husband Fin moved to the Island where she lived more than a quarter century on Flanders Lane (now known as Abel's Neck Road) in Chilmark. Laura and Fin ran a caretaking business serving a number of well-known clients.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Fin. Her only survivors are her son Jono Miller; daughter in law, Julie Morris, and her grandson Corley Arthur Miller, all of Sarasota, Fla. In addition to her New Jersey and Vineyard life, she had a Florida connection and was a great-granddaughter of Hugh Archer Corley, a member of the Florida cabinet, trustee of the internal improvement fund, and settler of Corley Island in Lake Harris, south of Leesburg.

In addition to being active with a quilter's group and the Mount Holyoke alumnae association, Laura was a supporter of a variety of Vineyard causes, including the the hospital, Chilmark Library, and the up-Island Council on Aging. Contributions in her memory may be sent to the council on aging.

Her family plans an on-Island observance to honor Laura on May 7 at Howes House. To be notified of the particulars as they develop, please e-mail jono@ncf.edu.