Sidney Elizabeth Allee Miller
Sidney Elizabeth Allee Miller, 76, passed away at her daughter’s home on December 8, 2018 after a 2 year battle with ovarian cancer.
Born October 4, 1942 in Eldon, Missouri, she was the daughter to Dr. James and Elizabeth Allee. She is survived by her brother Galt Allee (and wife Francine), her daughter Patricia Tabor Burke (and husband Tom), grandchildren Sidney and Tom Burke and cousin Grayson Kabler. Sidney also leaves behind her sweetheart, Jacques L’Heureux and her foster daughter, Mary Weston (and husband David).
Sidney was a fearless, creative spirit who brought warmth and joy to her family and friends. In her twenties, she worked in New York pitching fashion designs to magazine editors that could be made by using the yarn sold by her employer. She acted as “Nancy Baxter”, the person you could call with questions on how to knit or crochet the fashions featured in those magazines. She did all of this without actually knowing how to knit or crochet, but relied on her sewing knowledge and on her confidence that she could find the answer while promising to call the customer back.
For more than two decades, Sidney worked in educational publishing, bringing her unique innovations to improve the textbooks for K-12 students. A two-time restauranteur, she started her second restaurant, The Cottage in Hermann, MO, at age 60. At age 70, she took up painting and had already found success in selling her work. And right before her death, Sidney self-published her poem “The Trunk in the Corner.” Sidney was also a finalist in national quilt competitions and has had her work featured in quilting books. Sidney’s life was also full of small kindnesses which she shared with loved ones on a daily basis. She made everyone and everything feel special with her own unique warmth and style. She will be greatly missed but we are all better for having known and loved her.
Services will be held privately.
We are so fortunate to have known Sidney these few years; her ever present smile, her sly comments, her encouragement, her interest in us and her love.
May we all learn from her as we go forward to appreciate the little things.
My life was so enriched by close friendship with this strong, talented, caring and creative friend of the last seventeen years. She was ever ready to support, encourage, share and laugh with those lucky enough to be in her great circle of loved ones. I hope I can remember the beautiful lessons she taught by example, and live them the rest of my days.
I only knew her for a short time, but she always brought a smile to the room. She will be greatly missed but everyone who knew her. <3
We are so lucky to have been blessed enough to have Sidney enter our lives. She had a beautiful soul and made everyone around her feel special. She was truly a gift to my dad and brought so my joy to his life and ours. We miss her dearly. She was with us for far too short a time.
It was the year 1957. I was now in 9th grade at U High, fresh from 8th grade graduation from a little one-room country school, and Sidney invited me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. It was my first date ever, and one of the nicest, prettiest and most popular girls in the class invited me! That experience made a wonderful memory that has lasted a lifetime. (I think Bill Palmquist was envious). I haven’t seen her since that year 1957, but I’ve thought of her often through the years as I remembered that sweet soul. I inquired about her a few times at various highschool reunions, but no one seemed to know what had become of her until today when I discovered her obit. It is now with sad and fond memories that I remember her.