Andrea Miller
With sun shining through beautiful sparkling snowflakes outside the window, Andrea Westing Lisle Miller, 71, passed away at the McClure Miller Respite House on February 9, 2021. There was so much love with her daughter holding her hand, stroking her hair, and Joan Baez on the speaker. Though a fast and furious cancer diagnosis just four short weeks earlier overwhelmed her suffering body, it did not dim her warm and loving spirit in those last days.
Andrea was born in New Orleans, La., to Mildred (“Midge”) Somers Westing. Shortly thereafter, Midge packed her wee infant daughter into a Model T Ford and, after a brief time in Texas where Midge babysat A.J. Foyt (yes, that A.J. Foyt!) to make money, she drove up the East Coast looking for a place to build a life for the two of them. She landed in the quaint village of Townshend, Vt. As the story goes, the small house she found to rent had a cow living in the basement that had to be evacuated before they could take up residence … a fitting start to a true Vermont existence. It just so happened that next door to the cowhouse stood the Townshend Furniture Factory, where Midge met the owner, Laurence (“Larry”) Lisle. Love sparked among the wood shavings and chair forms, as little Andrea looked on. Soon enough, they were married and Larry became Andrea’s adoptive father for the remainder of his life.