Christine Miller decided she would live life on her own terms when she was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago.
The irresistibly charismatic, nurturing wife and mother of two made her family a priority, traveled around the world and tried her hand at the things she’d always wanted to do.
Duncan Miller, her husband of 17 years, remembers those last years as some of their best, calling the intimacy his family experienced “a very rare gift. It’s the silver lining.”
“She was really just a wonderful wife, a really outstanding human being,” he said.
Christine Miller, of Atlanta, died Oct. 21 after a recurrence of breast cancer. She was 39. A.S. Turner and Sons of Decatur handled the cremation arrangements. A memorial celebration, complete with rock band, is planned for 7 p.m. Saturday at Paris on Ponce in Atlanta.
Miller was born Christine Anderson in New York on July 27, 1974, and raised in Staten Island. An athlete and musician with an adventurous spirit, she made many easy friendships as a child and was known for her boisterous laugh, said her parents, Ike and Phyllis Johnson, of Spring Hill, Fla., and Atlanta. She graduated from Wagner High School and in 1996 from Syracuse University, where she studied broadcast journalism and speech communication.
During her junior year in college, she studied abroad in London and met her husband. “Like all great relationships, it started in a dimly lit, smoky nightclub in London,” her husband quipped.
They had instant chemistry, and once she returned to Syracuse, they began a trans-Atlantic courtship, racking up phone bills and visiting on school breaks, he said. He proposed to Miller during a broadcast of MTV Europe, and in 1996, Miller’s senior year, they eloped to Niagara Falls. “It was a good gamble,” he said. “She really was the woman of my dreams.”
They spent the first eight years of their marriage in London, where Christine Miller worked in television and fashion, and relocated to Atlanta with their two young children in 2007.
Miller pursued a number of passions, and was determined to do them well. “Most people get into a rut and get comfortable, but she was always trying something new,” her husband said.
In the U.K., she worked a few odd jobs in television, finally making it as an on-air auction assistant on a home shopping show. She also modeled for the British fashion line Charles of London. Stateside, she dabbled in small business ventures and with business partner Shahnaz Hughson, of Atlanta, opened Eclectic Gal, a vintage fashion boutique on Flat Shoals Road.
“She is an icon,” Hughson said of Miller’s fashion sense. “She just had this very quirky style — eclectic bohemian rocker. One day she’ll just have this long wig and stilettos, and the next day she has on a baseball hat and combat boots.”
Miller had a knack for making instant, personal connections, even with customers whom she met once or twice. “She just accepted you, she believed in you, and she just let you be you and you didn’t have to be anything extra,” Hughson said.
She had an amazing memory for ’80s song lyrics, her friends said, and an especially good Axl Rose impression. In all she did, she expressed joy. “She just really appreciated life,” Hughson said. “One thing I’ve learned from her is enjoy the little moments because they mean so much. I’m thankful for that every day.”
Miller is also survived by her children, daughter Alexa, 8, and son Luke, 6, of Atlanta.
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