A Belated Love Story
By Bertha Miller
(Written by Melodie Miller Davis’s mother, in a diary of memories)
My husband Vernon and I moved to Juniper Place in 2004. In high school I loved typing and decided I wanted to be a secretary and work in an office, so I went to the affordable Elkhart Business College. I then got a job at American Coating Mills at $17 a week, big money. I was just 18 and fresh off the farm. The war was in full swing. I found a whole different world in that downtown Elkhart office, so different than my strict Mennonite home. At the office, people flirted, there were cigarettes all over the place, cursing and swearing, especially by my boss. At an office Christmas dinner at a restaurant which was a real treat for me, I thought some got a little drunk.
I wasn’t much interested in marriage at the time. I didn’t want to be tied down to one guy. Plus, I figured no one would want me because of my large feet.
When I first met Vernon, I thought he was sort of cute. He was serving at Ypsilanti Mental Hospital in Michigan during World War II as a conscientious objector (C.O.). So, I wrote him a letter and he wrote back. A friend, Jasper got us together. I just happened to be in a dime store in Elkhart and he knew me and Vernon also. Vernon was soon sure I was the one for him. I wasn’t sure but I felt so comfortable talking to him. He wanted to take me to a movie for our first date but I was kind of surprised because I never went to movies: in my church, movies were “wicked.” So, we went to Playland Park and had fun on the rides. There was one other C.O. in the office and I tried to keep it a secret that my boyfriend was a C.O.
It took me a long time and prayer before I knew for sure that I wanted to marry Vernon in 1946. Eventually we owned our own farm and I happily became a farmer’s wife and we soon started a family of three daughters and one son.
Later in life Vernon did much volunteer work with the CROP (Christian Rural Overseas Program), and started a fundraiser of planting an entire farm in corn with proceeds going to CROP. The “planting” was covered by a local TV station and Vernon and my middle daughter got on the front page of the Indiana Prairie Farmer magazine. The more he worked with the CROP program and Heifer Project, the more he desired to go to see where we had sent crops and animals to help feed “hungry people” as he often said. When the Mennonite World Conference was planned for Amsterdam in 1967, Vernon began to look into how we could afford to travel to the conference and then continue on to see various places where we knew missionaries, or had hosted visitors from other countries, or where CROP corn and heifers had been sent. Vernon and I ended up traveling completely around the world stopping in many countries including Vietnam in that horrible war. We were able to visit a Vietnamese friend and some workers.
One big adventure as a family was leaving northern Indiana to settle in north Florida for about 9 years where Vernon helped start a mobile home factory to help provide jobs. The business eventually folded, and Vernon returned to farming and eventually we moved back to northern Indiana where so many of our family lived. After he retired from farming, we spent many winters volunteering with other senior Mennonites in South Texas. We were not rich, but we had a rich life full of love, faith, family and many learning experiences. Our children say now they loved seeing Daddy put his arms around me as he left the supper table each evening, thanking me for cooking and usually landing a kiss on my cheek.
He knew later in life that I really hoped to live at Greencroft as many friends and family did. His last big loving gift to me was to move us to Juniper where we lived for two years before he died in 2006, and I stayed there until 2021. He was the love of my life although seven years older than me: 29 to my 22 when we got married. I know now we were very lucky to have 60 mostly wonderful years together.
BIO: Bertha Miller, age 97 died October 11, 2023. She would have been 100 years old this July. She lived in the Cove nursing unit for a couple years after enjoying Juniper 17 years. Bertha was an active volunteer reading to others at Greencroft and welcoming visitors. Even two months before she died, she enjoyed grading Home Bible studies for Gospel Echoes prison ministry. She also loved acting in the Curtain Raiser productions for a number of years. Earlier she and Dad ran a Bed and Breakfast in their home when they lived near Wakarusa Ind., which they loved doing.
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