A Pause to Honour Carol MIller

I just opened my latest Quilt University Newsletter...to find a gentle, loving, sad message from her husband, Roger, Dean of QU...

Carol wrote a few months ago that she was facing cancer -- I believe, not for the first time in her life.  Today, Roger wrote:

March 1, 2013


Very sad news.  Carol had a humorous, but fragile, soul.  It let her poke fun at the strange things we do with our lives, but didn't protect her from the torment of severe bone cancer pain and the fog of drugs.
No matter what the doctors tried to do to get her healthy enough for chemotherapy, she couldn't tolerate it.  The pain, the nausea, the disorientation.  Too many variables to solve for.  Gradually she retreated into her own private world, away from the pain and anguish.  A week ago Tuesday we moved her to inpatient hospice care.  She passed away last Friday morning. 



Carol Miller founded Quilt University in the summer of 2000 -- and I found it not long afterwards.  As I wrote Mr. Miller just a few moments ago, Quilt University was my introduction to online classes and filled a great need when I was unable to get out to ‘live’ ones during the last 2 years of my husband’s life.  Carol’s “Jane Was Nuts!” cheered and taught me during a time when laughter and fun were slow to return in my life.  Without many of the skills I developed in QU classes over the years, I wouldn't be where I am now, making art pieces and preparing to participated in my third local spring art show and sale. She was indeed a pioneer in the ‘cyber-class’ arena, and will be missed.


In the wake of the recent online "Golden Quilter" awards, let those of us who studied with Carol, or taught for the university, or still do, take a few moments to appreciate her pioneering work on the Internet, send a note to Mr. Miller and his family, and utter a prayer of thanksgiving for her life and for what she brought to our quilting universe.