Maxine (Breen) Miller, age 103, of Lawrenceville, Illinois, passed through heaven’s gates on November 22, 2024.
Maxine (Breen) Miller, age 103, of Lawrenceville, Illinois, passed through heaven’s gates on November 22, 2024. She always said when she got to heaven, she wanted to sing bass and play drums. We hope she is doing that now. She was born June 21, 1921 at her parent’s home in St. Francisville, Illinois. Maxine was the first daughter of O. R. and Louise (Shipley) Breen. She married the love of her life, Francis E. Miller, on September 28, 1940, and he passed away on September 22, 1962, after 22 years of marriage.
Also preceding her in death were her parents; son-in-law Bill Kasinger; daughter Myra; grandson Hudson Highsmith; three sisters, Euldeen O’Connor, Florencie Fox, and Billie Seals. Survivors include one sister, Jacque Poland of Springfield Missouri, three daughters; Barbara (Bill) Kasinger; Kathy (Jerry) Highsmith both of Lawrenceville, Illinois, and Lela (Bob) Belviy of Seymour Indiana. Maxine was also blessed with 8 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren, and 7 great great grandchildren, and a ton of family and friends extending all the way to Greece.
During World War II, Maxine worked some as a welder. She also worked as a “Rosie the Riveter” at the Evansville plant using “ice box” rivets on the top of the cockpit of the P47 Thunderbird airplanes. After her husband passed away, she raised her three young daughters while working at Golden Rule Insurance (later UnitedHealthcare). She worked in the Accounting Department for 40 years.
Since 1950 Maxine was a very active member of the St. Francisville Free Methodist Church and taught Sunday School for the majority of those years. She also held the job of treasurer and delegate for many years. She loved her Lord and was known as a faithful worker and Christian witness. She was an avid story teller. She credited this to her proud Irish heritage. She loved to dress up in various costumes and characters just to drive home a spiritual truth. One of her favorite characters was Mary Bell Scraggs of Possum Hollow, TN. In 2011, Maxine was the Lawrence County Mother of the Year, a well-deserved honor. Maxine enjoyed reading books and studying the Bible. She was an excellent teacher but absolutely loved being a student too. Once she took tap dancing lessons and later a course to learn sign language. Since she thought you were never too old to learn something, at the age of 62, she learned to swim for the first time. She absolutely loved swimming, especially in the ocean.
Maxine was very independent and fearless as long as she felt it was God’s will. In 2004 at the age of 83, she went to Greece to work at the Olympics passing out water and witnessing. While there she swam in the Mediterranean and walked where Paul the apostle walked. Maxine knew nothing about sports, but she attended an Olympic volleyball game between Russia and USA. She said she could at least read the scoreboard. At the age of 87, Maxine and her daughter Kathy enjoyed parasailing at Hilton Head, Florida. She really wanted to skydive, so parasailing was a compromise for her. In fact, while they were in the air, she told Kathy that she still wanted to skydive.
We will be celebrating Maxine’s wonderful and full life on November 30, 2024 at St. Francisville Illinois Free Methodist Church (12303 Sand Barrens Lane) at 11:00am (Illinois Time). Visitation will be from 9:00am – 11:00am. Burial will be at the Oak Lawn Cemetery in St. Francisville, Illinois. Cunningham Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
The family requests no flowers. Any memorial donations may be directed to The American Heart Association or Maria and Mike Long, Free Methodist missionaries in Greece. Online condolences can be sent to the family at www.cunninghamfuneralhomes.com.
