Winifred P. Miller

    Winifred Peckham Miller, a former East Hampton resident, died on Aug. 21 at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston-Salem, N.C., after a 12-year battle with breast cancer. She was 68.

    Ms. Miller was born on Aug. 5, 1943, in Southampton to Robert and Lucia Peckham. She attended beautician school, and worked in Mitzie’s Beauty Shop in Southampton at the age of 16. She later worked at Janice Herbert’s salons in Wainscott and Water Mill.

    According to her husband, Elias Miller, after losing her father to bone cancer in 1988, she decided to work at a nursing home in East Hampton to learn how to help older people in preparation for her mother’s older years. Her plan was to return to work as a beautician, but Mr. Miller said she fell in love with the people at the nursing home and did not want to go back.

    The Millers were married on Sept. 10, 1993, by Justice James R. Ketchum in front of a weeping cherry tree. They lived in Wainscott, and later moved to Clearwater Beach in Springs, where they lived until a few years ago. More recently, they lived upstate in Gilbertsville, and then in Winston-Salem.

    Ms. Miller’s family said she will be “especially remembered for her continued strength, unselfish heart, and compassion towards others.” Her husband described her as “a great lady.”

    She is survived by her husband, and three siblings, Robert Peckham Jr. of Vancouver, Wash., Sylvia Sweeney of Summerfield, Fla., and Barbara Ericson of Germantown, N.Y. Ms. Miller also leaves two daughters, Kimberly McDonald of Belews Creek, N.C., and Deborah Miller of Mocksville, N.C., 8 stepchildren, 18 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.

    There will be a service sometime next year, when Ms. Miller’s ashes will be buried in the Wainscott Cemetery near her parents.

    The family suggests donations to the Hospice and Palliative Care Center, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27103, or to a hospice of choice.