Marietta Miller

Marietta Miller, 67, Moses Lake resident, passed away Wednesday, May, 9, 2007, at SunBridge Care & Rehabilitation Center in Moses Lake following an extended period of failing health.

Because of Marietta's love of Chinese food, a no-host Remembrance Celebration will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 19, at the Super China Buffet, 711 A. Stratford Rd., Moses Lake. Arrangements are in care of Kayser's Chapel & Crematory, Moses Lake.

She was born Oct. 20, 1939, in Yakima to Eugene J. & Marjorie E. (Davenport) Nevue. She was raised with her elder brother Eugene in Yakima. Her grandmother, Ethel Davenport was instrumental in her upbringing. She and Eugene graduated from Yakima Senior High School in June of 1957. She studied for two quarters at the University of Washington, then worked for several years. She then attended Yakima Valley College and Central Washington State College at Ellensburg, where she graduated with honors in a double major of business and sociology in March 1973, with her grandmother, Ethel proudly watching.

She proudly celebrates the beginning of her longtime recovery from alcohol use on Nov. 9, 1970.

"No matter what happened after that, I treasured my sobriety throughout my life."

She met and married the love of her life, Fred Miller, at a friend's home in Yakima on Sept. 16, 1976, and they relocated to Moses Lake. He preceded her in death in June of 1980.

Marietta had a number of different service positions and then she was hired by Grant County Alcohol Center in 1984 as an Alcohol Counselor. This was the job she had dreamed about for years. As time went on she advanced to a Certified Chemical Dependence Counselor III. She and Dorene Bendickson, from Grant County Mental Health, were assigned the task of beginning the first Dual Diagnosis Program in the area and she was so proud that the program is going to this day. She knows that many people were helped by her skills as well as her example.

Throughout her life she enjoyed gardening, her pet cats and dogs, cooking small dinners for friends, making tasty pies, picking and canning fruit and jams to give to friends on special occasions.

"I loved and was loved by my friends in recovery and appreciated reconnecting with family later in life." She did extensive family history work.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Fred, and brother Eugene.

She is survived by her sister-in-law, Dianne Nevue and her family; her half siblings, John P. Nevue of Seattle, Maria Sullivan of Kaunakakai, Hawaii, Pat (Leon) Vickers of Cowiche, Wash., and their families. Other family members include Charlotte (Robert) Stolp of Junction City, Ore., Donna Bean of Cowiche, Wash., Edward (Joy) Staley of Moxee, Wash., and their families, as well as other extended family members.

"My descendants are Robert Caster and family of Temecula, Calif.,, Ryan Wright and family of Glenoma, Wash., and Shayne and Sydney Khan of Santa Barbara, Calif."