Eula Miller in 2008 / Photo by: Nasim Ali

When the people you have met throughout your life gather together to say goodbye, there are a few words you should be honored to hear. Beloved, loyal, respected and missed are just some of them. If you ask those who knew her, those words all applied to Eula M. Miller who was the program head for the Early Childhood Development program at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College for 37 years until her retirement in 2010. Miller died of lung cancer Jan. 5.

According to an article about Miller in the Connection Newspapers, she was born Eula Blanche Mallette in the small town of Maxton, N.C. With a foresight that was not common among women of her generation she not only received her bachelor’s degree from Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., but went on to earn a master’s degree at George Washington University. Just prior to accepting a position with NOVA, she was fortunate enough to work in one of the first desegregated classrooms in the Alexandria area.

In the years that followed, Miller would touch countless lives. The Connection Newspapers reported that she started the Nanny Project, a program that allowed single teenage mothers to earn a certificate in child care from the college. Miller recognized that a program like this would enable these women to learn how to better care for their own babies as well as providing them with a marketable skill that would lead to some financial independence.

Miller was quoted as having said, “We have to care about families because that’s where children live.”

Her students remember her as having a surplus of energy and excitement, tackling every task set before her with grace and enthusiasm.

The Washington Post highlighted the fact that, in 1989, this uniquely remarkable woman was named Washingtonian Magazine’s “Washingtonian of the Year” for her work in the field of early childhood development.

Miller earned other awards as well. According to NOVA’s own Intercom newsletter, Miller was given the Career Development and Education Training Award for “her lifetime work of providing teaching and mentoring to literally thousands of women over the years.” She was also named one of the Outstanding Women in Alexandria by the Alexandria Office of Women and the Alexandria Commission on Women a few years ago.

Miller was named a Living Legend of Alexandria in 2008. Her portrait is on display in the Tyler Gallery on the Alexandria campus as part of the Living Legends of Alexandria exhibit through Feb. 2.

Eula Miller is survived by her husband, two children, three sisters and four grandchildren.

Donations may be made to a scholarship fund established in Miller’s name for students of early childhood education at NOVA.

After the loss of a life that has touched so many others, those who knew her should not be sad that she is no more, but be grateful and happy that she was.

By: Dawn Koogle

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