Melba Genese (Hamilton) Miller

Visiting hours will be Monday 2-4 and 7-9 at Hay and Peobody and the service will be at the Chebeague United Methodist Church Tuesday at 1pm. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Melba's memory to the Chebeague Island Historical Society c/o Gloria Brown.

     

 Melba Genese Hamilton Miller, 89, of Chebeague Island, died Friday March 8, 2002 at Maine Medical Center in Portland after a short illness.

She was born on Chebeague Island, June 22, 1912, the youngest of six children of Sherman and Alice Dyer Hamilton. She attended Chebeague schools before leaving the island to attend Rockville High School in Connecticut where she excelled in athletics and theater. She attended Grays Business College in Portland.

She was an accomplished pianist and enjoyed entertaining a crowd with her dramatic interpretations. She passed her love of theater and music on to her children, grandchildren, and great grand children many of whom are accomplished in these areas. She introduced her children to the classics by dramatically reading them as bedtime stories.

Melba was proud of her island heritage. Her roots on Chebeague went back to 1756 and her ancestors were instrumental in creating the fabric of the community. She loved retelling stories she had heard from her grandmother and delighted in the fact that her grandfather's sloop had laid the cornerstone of Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor. She and her husband Ellsworth were featured in an interview in the 1999 Island journal in which they described island life during the twentieth century.

She was a member of the Chebeague United Methodist Church and the Chebeague Historical Society. In her younger days she was very active in the island's Mayflower Club. During World War II she volunteered as a spotter identifying aircraft flying over Casco Bay. When her children were young she volunteered in the island hot lunch program. A strong advocate of island education, she visited school on a regular basis.

Melba loved children and her home was a haven for her extended family. She raised the equivalent of three families and packed school lunches for 38 years. She took great pride in her husband and her family and devoted her life to them.

She was predeceased by a son, Daniel Ellsworth Miller, a grandson, Warren E.Doughty III, brothers, Louis and Leland Hamilton and sisters, Statira Osgood,Vera Cobb and Lida Small.

She is survived by her loving husband of 52 years, Ellsworth D. Miller of Chebeague Island; two sons, Captain Warren E. Doughty of South Portland and David W. Miller of Chebeague and their wives Lorraine Doughty and Gail Miller; two daughters, Alice Doughty Lefebvre of Pennacook NH and Donna Miller Damon of Chebeague and her husband Douglas Damon; grand children Carla Widlund Joyce of Cumberland whom Melba raised, and her husband Peter Joyce, Jodi Chamberland of NH, Augustus E.Doughty of Gorham, Crystal Doughty of South Portland, Lauren and Jonathan Miller and Rachel and Thomas Damon all of Chebeague Elsie Dyer of Falmouth, Clifford Kelly of Limington, Joseph Belyea of North Carolina and Robin Belyea of Elliot and Joseph Lefebvre of Arizona and John Lefebvreof Bow NH; 26 great grand children and 11 great great grandchildren;sister-in-laws Elsie Hamilton of Portland and Evelyn Blaisdell Stover of Yarmouth; a cousin Waneta Hamilton Cleaves of Chebeague Island and many devoted nieces and nephews.

 
Elsworth and Melba at the shore


 
Elsworth and Melba at their 50th Wedding Anniversary with David, Donna, Alice and Carla June 25, 1999

 
50th Wedding Anniversary

 

 

 
Gladys Bennett, Agnas Nicoles, Melba
"Old Pals"

 
Elsworth with Alice, David, Warren and Donna

 
Elain Ricker, Mr. Lavage, Warren , Melba, and Alice

   

 
Melba with Alice, Elsie with Sherman, and Lida with Marjorie

 

 

 
Sherman Hamilton Family
Back row: Statira, Lewis, Vera: Front: Sherman, Lida, Alice and Leland - Five years after this picture Melba was born