Myrtle Miller was my great grandmother. I was fortunate enough to have her influence in my life until I was 18 years old. She was a devoted wife to Willis Daniel Morgan Miller White Bear and her five children Patty, Polly, Jack, Danny and John. She lived to see many grandchildren and countless great grandchildren.

She met my grandfather when they were both young in Oklahoma. They married, had kids and slowly made their way north to Roseburg Oregon. That is where she remained until the end of her days.

Myrtle was a naturally beautiful woman who was an accomplished artist, and housewife. She was an avid oil painter until she developed allergies to the paint later in life. She was a homemaker her whole life, with odd jobs here and there. She approached the domestic arts without much attachment to convention and somehow managed to bring creativity and artfulness into the pragmatism and common sense she was so well known for.

She loved her husband and family so much. She always had a big hug for everyone. She told me one time that the smartest thing she ever did was stay deeply in love with her husband. From there, she said, she remembered everyday how much she loved her family and god gave her a big family that loved her in return. She spent a good part of each day staying in contact with some part of the family. She always had news and would often organize family get togethers and dinners, keeping everyone connected.

She was incredibly insightful about people and their behaviors. She would often answer my questions about how the world worked by telling me terrible and hilarious stories about my mother, or grandmother and other family members. She was never afraid to answer or explain even the hardest questions about life that I proposed to her.

She instructed me in art and drawing when I was very young, helping me to develop my skills well beyond my years. She taught me almost everything my high school art classes tried to teach me before I was 10 years old. The way she would teach was so easy to understand and so plain it always left me wondering how I hadn't already figured that out. It wasn't until much later in life I realized how lucky I had been to have such an effective teacher.

She taught many people many things in her life but my favorites were that your idea can be as big as you like but your actions can only be the size of the canvas you have to work with, and the best part of baking is licking the stir spoon.

- Karina Dale Cottrell