I met Nancy in May of 2007 when she 1st joined The Scene the St. Louis Community College-Forest Parks newspaper. She was a very nice, caring, gentle woman who didn’t deserve to have her life taken away by a cold hearted, thoughtless intruder. Even though I only knew her for a short amount of time she affected my writing a lot. She edited a lot of my articles before she took over as advisor of the paper. I was in complete sadness and shock when I found out about her murder. I truly hope her attackers black eyes came from her fighting back. She will be greatly missed, rest in peace Nancy.

To the family of Nancy Miller

I did not know her personally but looked forward to her news letter on Sat. morning in the Lifestyle Magazine. I was so sadden when she left that position. The paper hasn’t been the same since. I am still trying to absorb the fact that her life was taken in such a horrible way. Please know that my heart is with you during this terrible time. She shall be missed by a break many people. God Bless

I loved Nancy’s Lifestryles. I so enjoyed reading her personal commemts at the beginning of each issue. Lifestyles isn’t the same without her. What a horrible ending of such a beautiful person. My sincere condolences to Nancy’s loving family.

I represent the Arkansas chapter of the Nancy Miller Fan Club. Until reading the postings on this blog I never fully realized the depth and scope of her fan base, or the many, many lives she affected over the years. She would be so proud of this outpouring of love and affection; and her mother, the indomitable Vivian, would have been dazzled and delighted by it. She raised her daughter well.

I first met Nancy in 1968, when I began dating her best friend, Diann, when we were all students at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. I quickly understood that I could never win Diann unless I earned Nancy Nix’s seal of approval. Nancy was “Nana” and Diann was “Dudder.” They had been best friends since they were 13-year-old girls growing up in El Dorado, Arkansas; they could already finish each other’s sentences, an art they would only perfect in the coming years. Often, all it took was a single word or a name to trigger spasms of laughter. Even then, as a 20-year-old journalism major, Nancy was the most polite and gracious of women. But she also had her mom’s biting wit and her own unique charm and sense of silliness; she was always enormous fun to be with. I introduced her to the man who would become her husband. They were the sole witnesses present at my wedding to Diann, and the next year Diann and I were the only witnesses at their wedding. (They divorced a few years later.)

Over the next decades, Diann and I remained in constant contact with Nancy. We celebrated holidays and birthdays together, vacationed together, enjoyed concerts and the races together. She was there when our kids were born. In fact, our children were in grade school before they came to realize that “Aunt Nancy” was not actually a blood relative. She had a great love of food and an uncanny memory when it came to dining experiences; she could tell me exactly what I had ordered at a restaurant seven years before — the entrée, the dessert, everything — and whether or not I had liked it. In time I came to know and love her wonderful family, the Nixes; her special St. Louis friends; and, of course, her longtime companion Peter, one of the sweetest souls who ever lived. We visited Nancy only last month. As always, she was the perfect hostess. And as always, she and Diann stayed up every night until the wee hours, sipping wine and gabbing . . . and laughing.

Like so many of you, I loved Nancy Miller. It is inconceivable to imagine the world without her.

I loved reading Nancy’s personal column at the beginning of each Lifestyles issue. When she retirred I kept meaning to e-mail her to tell her how much I missed her, but regretfully I neverdid.
May G-d give solace to her grieving family.

Shirley Zeffren

I never met Nancy but I felt like she was a friend thru her Lifestyle column. I am a mother of a young son and I enjoyed her stories of entertaining- it was fun reading about someone who enjoyed entertaining so much and she had the coolest ideas! I was sad when she left and hoped the Post would do an update on how she is doing in her retirement.

I was horrifed when I saw her photo and the article about her tragic death Saturday! I felt like I, too, had lost a friend. I can not stop thinking about her stunned family, friends, co-workers and dear friend, Peter. I work in Chesterfield and it is so unreal to think something like that could happen to someone so incredible in such a safe and nice area.

God Bless you Nancy for brightening my Saturday mornings and for being so devoted to your readers!

I worked closely with Nancy for 10 years at the Post. So many things come to mind when I think of her. I can imagine her now in one of the many of meetings we attended, laughing and smiling with reading glasses perched on top of her beautiful thick red hair. She knew how to enjoy life, but there was never any question that she also knew how to roll up her sleeves and get down to business. I always admired her unshakable work ethic. As a page designer one of the highlights of my day was seeing that final sign-off on one of her page proofs: “OK NM.” You better believe that was a page with no mistakes because she had that ‘eagle eye’ when it came to catching even the slightest grammatical error. She practiced excellence in everything she did, not just when it was convenient. Working with her was a pleasure because she never came to work with a bad attitude. Thank you Nancy, for inspiring us all to do our very best work and actually have fun at the same time!

Christine Zueck

I had only a small connection to Nancy Miller, but like so many others, I feel compelled to write about her.

Nancy and I talked by phone once a few years ago. I had left a message for her, asking for advice that I might give to students in a writing workshop who were interested in freelancing for Nancy’s Lifestyle section. That evening she returned my call.

Although Nancy and I had never met, I felt that I knew her through her column. And she knew who I was. That’s because during college in North Carolina, my daughter became a close friend of the daughter of Nancy’s dear friends in Little Rock – the friends she mentioned often in her column, Diann and Craig. My daughter’s friend loved the woman she had called Aunt Nancy as she grew up, and she always visited Nancy when she came to St. Louis. So through the daughter of Nancy’s friends, my daughter knew Nancy, and I knew Nancy’s friends.

That night when Nancy returned my call, we talked first about the people we both knew – Lindsey and Kate and Diann and Craig. Then Nancy offered suggestions for my workshop students. I was surprised that she took so much time with me because at 7 p.m., she surely wanted to head home. I thought she was giving me special attention because of my daughter’s connection to her friends.

Now that I’ve read the tributes here, I suspect that I was wrong. I probably would have received the same attention and useful advice from Nancy if I had had no connection at all to her life. I see that she made many people feel special.

I remember a comment that Anna Quindlen made years ago in her column in the New York Times, that she didn’t think she was old enough yet to be wise. The comment got me thinking about what actually does make people wise.

Nancy’s columns and these tributes to her show that she was wise. She wrote about the subjects that matter to people – family and friends and good times together. She connected with readers and with the people around her. She helped people to smile, to feel good about themselves and to enjoy life.

Rest in peace, Nancy. May your family and friends be comforted by this outpouring of appreciation and love for you.

Mary Harrison

Nancy was a gifted and thorough editor. I remember showing her pages that had been corrected and were ready for a quick glance. No such luck with her; she would read the entire page again, and sure enough, would find something others had missed.
She was calm and patient on deadline. The clock would not rush her copy-editing. She had the power of concentration and would break away to discuss the art or design of the page and then rush right back to the words.
At office parties or social gatherings, Nancy was a safe-haven for conversation, empathy or a good laugh. As a newspaper designer for more than 30 years, I have had several favorite editors, and Nancy is one of them.

Reading all of these comments and anecdotes about Nancy have been so comforting and have brought smiles to my face in a time when the pain and sadness is unbearable. She would be so touched.

I have grown up with Nancy as my “Aunt Nanna”. She was much more to me and my family than my mom’s best friend, she was a part of our family and we have been fortunate to have her at our house almost every Christmas Eve and every other important event in our family history. She was one of the most thoughtful, caring people you could ever hope to meet.

I lived in St. Louis last summer and am so grateful to have had three months of wonderful meals, glasses of wine, movies in the den, and fun with Nanna and friends. With her I always felt at home and her wit, charm, and knack for story-telling was a constant reminder of why she and my mom have been inseparable their whole lives. Their friendship was one of those rare and lasting bonds that one can only hope to find in life. I loved just being in the room when my mom and Nancy were together- Nancy drawing out my mom’s Arkansas accent and the two laughing at inside jokes only they knew from a lifetime of shared experiences.

I cannot imagine our lives without her- the loss will always be felt. But, I feel so fortunate to have had my Aunt Nanna as a model for how to be a friend and how to live life with grace, class, and humor.