The wit and wisdom of Glen Lake’s Grand Dame

By Chase Edwards
Sun contributor
Glen Lake’s Grand Dame, Jeanette Miller, passed away last month. In her honor, we reprint this piece from a July, 2000 issue of the Glen Arbor Sun
“Oh, Honey, you woke me up from my nap. Don’t you know I take a nap from 4 to 5 everyday? Honey, it’s quite alright …”
I should have remembered when I called to make an interview with her that Jeanette Miller slept from 4 until 5 every afternoon — wherever she may be at the time. As a kid I was accustomed to the sight of her napping soundly on my great grandmother’s couch. But eventually Jeanette stopped driving and we began seeing her less. And even though most locals could bet on the fact that Jeanette Miller would be asleep at 4 in the afternoon, it had somehow slipped my mind. Besides, it was a little past 6 in the evening.

I smiled when I hung up the phone. There’s so much to love about Jeannette. Glen Arbor wouldn’t be the same without her. In the 50 years since she spent her first summer on Glen Lake, this tall, white-haired woman known for her big laugh and bosomy hugs has made herself Glen Arbor’s most visible person. As Glen Lake School’s biggest fan (her son, Don Miller, is the boy’s basketball coach), she never misses a game when she can help it. Just last year, in fact, she made it to all 25 games the girl’s basketball team won in a row. She doesn’t like to cook, so chances are good that if you go out to eat you’ll meet her in one of Glen Arbor’s restaurants. But she does love to chat, so if you’re lucky, she’ll pull up a chair beside your table. She is, if you will, a Glen Arbor institution.
It’s now a hot July afternoon and I’m sitting on Jeanette Miller’s porch sipping lemonade. She sits across from me and reapplies her pink lipstick — it’s the stick she doesn’t like she explains. In front and to the side of her lie her four quaint summer cottages — one of which she has made into a permanent home for herself. They are the kind that have, all too often, been taken down for condominiums or grand summer homes. Just over Jeanette’s head and through the trees I catch a glimpse of Glen Lake. Alligator Hill lies beyond, and the view never ceases to please Jeanette. “What end do you suppose is the head and which is the tail?” she asks, turning around.
Born in 1914, Jeanette began summering up here with her husband and kids in 1951. At the time, her four children (Nancy, Jan, Don, and Pat) were ages 2, 3, 5, and 8. Ten years later an acre of land with eight small cabins on it next door went up for sale. The Millers wanted it badly but Jeanette’s husband wasn’t happy with the deal they were offered. Jeanette closed the deal on the cabins one day while her husband was at work. When he came home she said simply, “I can show you the papers, because I bought the whole thing!” And she’s never regretted it. “I love it! I just love it!” she told me with a grin, “I love the people and they are usually just so wonderful!” The Miller’s renovated the eight cabins into four bigger cottages, named the place Miller’s Cabins, and Jeannette was in the resort business. In the years since she has had only one grumpy customer to deal with. He threatened to call the police if she refused to give him back the $200 deposit used to reserve a cottage. She wrote him a check and said ‘God bless you’ as he stomped out the door. In hindsight she decided it would have been more appropriate to have said, “You can use my phone because I know them all [the police]!” There aren’t many people in the area that Jeanette doesn’t know.
With the taste of lemonade lingering in our mouths, Jeanette and I stroll around her property. She points to a flat of plants that badly need watering. “Nobody has planted those yet. Someday I’ll do it — when they are all dead!” she exclaims, and we continue on. We approach a very pregnant lady as we near the beach. She tells us that her baby is due in just three weeks, but because she didn’t want to lose her week at the cabin she came up anyway. Jeanette then introduces me to two boys that have been staying at her cottages since 1984. And we meet a little girl named Megan on her way to the beach.
What’s the secret behind the success of Miller’s Cabins? The beauty of Leelanau County and everyone’s love for Jeanette is what brings the same guests back to the cabins year after year. And while Glen Arbor is growing more crowded every summer, Miller’s Cabins never seem to change. Jeanette is always there to welcome them. Her guests spend the long, warm summer days on the beach. In the evenings they all gather around the grill. As the sun sets they flock to the bonfire pit to tell stories and roast marshmallows.
Although life has brought changes for Jeanette, she’s dealt with them well. After her husband died in a car accident in 1981 she moved to Glen Lake year round. In the years since, three of her children, Don, Nancy and Pat, have all moved to the area. Having them close enough to drop by for visits is one of her greatest joys.
As we wander slowly back to Jeanette’s house we run into Don.
He is on his way to a basketball camp and in a hurry. As he leaves, he asks his mother, “Should I drive on the right or left side of the road?”
“Just be sure not to pass people on the left!” she replies with a laugh. Then she adds: “Be careful and I love you.”
As he pulls out in a cloud of dust she shakes her head and says good-naturedly: “Don’t be in a hurry — don’t be like Don.” Then she turns to me and offers me a bit of her wisdom, “You don’t enjoy life if you’re always in a hurry,” she says.