THE SPRITE OF THE HIGHTS - Sun, Jan 3, 1960 - Oakland Tribune - Page 96

THE SPRITE OF THE HIGHTS Sun, Jan 3, 1960 – 96 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) · Newspapers.com

THE SPRITE OF THE HIGHTS

By DOLORES WALDORF

If Peter Pan had a sister her name would be Juanita Miller, for time means little to this pixie-like woman who on New Year's Day observed her 80th birthday.

The thought of Peter Pan came suddenly to mind as the little quick stepping woman in two tones of brown satin came picking her way down the woodland path near her cottage home at "The Hights," 3125 Joaquin Miller Road, through a twilight cast by trees planted as saplings in her childhood by her famous poet father.

JUANITA MILLER ... mementoes amid trees planted by poet Joaquin Miller. Tribune photo

It was typical of Juanita Miller that while admitting 80 she should spray gold glitter on her fading hair yet slip off bright red slippers, donned for photographs on the eve of her birthday. She liked glitter in her hair but she knew better than to walk that uneven path in high heeled red slippers. So she wore broad flat heeled sensible shoes, holding the red slippers aloft in one hand as she balanced herself with the other outstretched. She was bound for the Sanctuary where she has arranged and locked away mementos of her father's career.

More photos here

Common sense, not Time, guides Juanita Miller in her actions. The only concession she has made to Time is the decision to give up toe dancing lessons, begun when she was 77.

The past is dear and near to Juanita Joaquina Miller who fondly recalls the days when "Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear” were all together at "The Hights." But she is a vital part of the present, too. A visit with her is often interrupted by telephone calls from teen-agers who ask advice on etiquette, such as the subtleties of getting a boy to take you to the junior prom, when it apparently isn't yet his idea.

Usually on Sunday afternoons Miss Miller unlocks the Sanctuary and permits visitors to view the little museum of relics of Joaquin Miller who long dreamed of founding another "Brook Farm" colony on the West Coast but turned out to be the creator of a forest. Today Miss Miller's visitors will be friends come to honor her 80th birthday at an open house and informal recital.

The birthday celebration was to have been a testimonial dinner, given by officials of the Joaquin Miller Foundation (founded nearly 4 years ago). Miss Miller, however, prefers to give parties, rather than to be a guest, even a guest of honor. So she and her friend, author and dramatist Althya Clark Youngman, will present a program of numbers which strike Miss Miller's fancy on the spur of the moment. Kiki, a fat jowled orange cat, with an amazing digestive capacity, will browse about in quest of crumbs as is his wont and prerogative. Miss Miller always consoles guests who spill or drop things with a quick, "Leave it alone, Kiki will get it."

One of the paradoxes of Miss Miller's life is that she lives the pioneer existence her father loved so well although she began life in New York City and was reared in the tradition of conservative, well heeled Victorianism. Once her father admitted the tug-of-war in the girl's life when he said, "Between your mother and my 'Bravest Battle' you must not weaken." In spite of the fact that Papa roamed the world gathering material for lectures and speaking on the culture circuit, Juanita chose the free but untraveled existence of poetess, dramatist, singer and exponent of the simple life. Quite candidly Juanita Miller says today, "Papa was a genius... I have a little talent," though she recalls that Papa used to say "You burn so brightly, baby." She was always baby to both parents who kept her a child as long as they could.

Later when Papa said, "You must try to amount to something." she went back to New York City to make a career for herself. Mama and Aunt Harriet promptly took an apartment across 57th street from her studio so they could be sure nothing untoward happened to baby.

The career was cut short when word of Papa's first serious illness reached her. Most of her life since then has been spent in or near "The Hights" with her "Heart Harp" of oak, her memories, her dreams and projects. Latest project is “The Green Room” a new structure for filing away in a strangely orderly manner the mementos unearthed among the heaps of papers in her cottage. "I'm such a pack rat" she admits with an unrepentant smile.

Whatever stories about Juanita's romances and heart break have made headlines in the past are swept out of her memory today. She prefers to recall only the positive and pleasant, proudly makes a philosophy of it. Out of the happy past come such comments as “You remind me of my music teacher," with a gentle pat on the visitor's face. If her world today is a little like Alice's Wonderland, it is a happy kindly world without any roaring queens and but one conflict, a grimly muted running battle to keep workmen from cutting too deeply into the thicket that surrounds her cottage, fire hazard or no fire hazard.

The biggest project in her life today continues to be the Joaquin Miller Foundation, led by Harvey Lyons, Joseph R. Knowland Sr., Harold Holmes and Miss Miller since its founding in 1953. Her days are spent in sorting Miller memorabilia, preparing for a pageant or play on Joaquin Miller Day, which is never on the same date two years in succession and which is always as spontaneously and blithely

informal as today's birthday celebration is sure to be.