Maria Bullitt Miller, 99, of Orange, passed away peacefully on September 6, 2016.She is predeceased by her husband of sixty years Henry Forster Miller, her siblings:Dorothy Bullitt Brinley, Mary Bullitt Mueller, Jean Bullitt Reeves, Logan Mcknight Bullitt III, and George Roberts Bullitt.
She was born Maria Stockton Bullitt in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania on November 27, 1916 to Dorothy Roberts and Logan McKnight Bullitt. She grew up in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, where her mother founded and owned the Dorothy R. Bullitt Shops in Chestnut Hill and on the Main Line.
Maria attended Ravenhill Academy and Springside School; The Convent of the Sacred Heart at Noroton in Connecticut; and the Philadelphia School of Art where she studied dress design. She then married Henry Forster Miller of New York City, on April 6, 1942.
In 1948 the couple built their house in Orange, CT where they raised five children. (The house, designed by Henry as his Master of Architecture thesis project at Yale, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and spent their summers in Nonquitt, Mass.
She is survived by her children: Maria Stockton Miller, husband Kailash Bahadur of Toronto, ON; Andrew Miller of Norman, OK, wife Elizabeth Shafnacker Miller (deceased); Dorothy Bullitt Miller Heard, husband William of Rockville, MD; Steven Miller, Los Angeles, CA; and Henry Miller, Jr., of Hamden, CT. Also survived by seven grandchildren: Evan Swain Miller (1980), Faye Ann Hatheway Miller (1982), Jay Narain Forster Bahadur (1984), Jessica Hall (1984), William Augustin Heard, IV (1987), Jared Narain Stockton Bahadur (1989), Emily Miller Heard (1992).
For more than 34 years Maria volunteered at New Haven’s Community Soup Kitchen, served as the first non-clergy president, and was honored, in 2014, for her many years of service.
She was an active member of the Garden Club of New Haven, winning numerous awards for her flower arrangements and leadership. She also was a member of the North End Club and Friends of the Lighthouse Park Carousel, Maria was also a founding member of the Citizens Park Council of Greater New Haven.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on Monday, Sept. 12 at 11 a.m. at Holy Infant Church, 450 Racebrook Road, Orange. Interment will be private at the convenience of the family.
BEECHER & BENNETT FUNERAL HOME, 2300 Whitney Avenue, Hamden is in care of the arrangements. Memorial contributions in Maria’s name may be sent to the New Haven Garden Club P.O. Box 6197, Hamden, Connecticut 06517.
To send a condolence to her family or to see her obituary on-line, visit: www.beecherandbennett.com
