![Chief executive Bev Sloan, left, with Louann and Micky Miller at the Heart of Hospice Award Dinner. <!--IPTC: [CUT1]Chief executive Bev Sloan, left, with Louann and Micky (cq)Miller at the Heart of Hospice Award Dinner. [CREDIT]Photo by Eric Stephenson, Special to The Denver Post-->](/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20090514__20090517_E17_FE17DAVIDSONp1.jpg "20090514__20090517_E17_FE17DAVIDSON~p1.JPG")
Louann Miller isn’t one to quibble over semantics, so when someone introduces her as The Denver Hospice’s oldest volunteer, she’ll respond with a polite smile.
Having come aboard on Day 1, Miller technically is the longest-serving volunteer at this nonprofit agency that the late Carolyn Jaffee started with Dr. Peter Van Arsdale and nurses Barbara Milburn and Alice Demi. But the same grace and compassion Miller has shared with hundreds, if not thousands, of terminally ill people over the past 31 years would never allow her to correct a well-intentioned, if incorrect, description.
The Denver Hospice gave Miller its first Heart of Hospice Award — a bronze heart by Denver sculptor Tadd Moskal — at a dinner at the Grand Hyatt Denver. President/CEO Bev Sloan says Miller was both the inspiration and unanimous choice for the award.
The artist, Sloan said, left the heart open at the bottom “to represent Louann opening her heart to everyone she came to know and care for during her years as a volunteer.” He also engraved it with Miller’s opinion that “The heart of hospice is embracing life. It’s not about dying and it’s not about giving up hope. It’s about living each day to the fullest.”
Being a hospice volunteer, Miller maintains, “is neither frightening nor difficult. It is a privilege. We are a new face and a new listener for their stories and photographs.”
Testament to Miller’s effectiveness as a volunteer are the friendships that remain long after the patients have died. Tim Greer, whose children, now in their 20s, were 5 and 7 when Miller helped care for their grandmother, was among those attending the dinner chaired by Don Oberndorf, Andrea and John Horan, Jan and Dr. Gary Friedland, Mickey Ackerman and Richard Gilmartin.Betty Gordon, the agency’s first CEO, flew in from Boston to attend the dinner; Van Arsdale was there too, along with nine of Miller’s 11 grandchildren, who participated in the tributes to their beloved “Nana”: Charlie, Rachel, Alyssa, Ethan and Dena Miller; Stacey Rose; and Joel, Ceci and Hannah Lowinger.
Other well-wishers were Jordon and Essie Perlmutter; Carol and Dr. Rick Abrams; state Sen. Joyce Foster and Rabbi Steven Foster; Joe Silversmith; Elaine Asarch; Steve Farber; Evan and Evi Makovsky; Warren and Ruth Toltz; Norm and Sunny Brownstein; Barry and Arlene Hirschfeld; Eleanor Sobol; Gary and Joyce Lozow; Sandy Vinnik; Jerry and Lorna Gray; Cynthia Auer; Dick and Bobbe Cook; Steve Chotin; Stan and Phyllis Averch; Bob and Joanie Talpers; Mark and Krista Boscoe; Judy Robins; Sam and Zoni Pluss; Peter and Julie Savoie; Dan, Judy, Ken and Vicki Pepper; Rabbi Bruce and Tamra Dollin; and Sally, Tom, Margie, Ken and Rebecca Gart.
Society editor Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, and GetItWrite on Twitter.
