Sunday, June 29, 2008

06-29-08 -- In Remembrance: Johnne Miller loved enjoying Idaho’s outdoors in every season

BY DAVID KENNARD - dkennard@idahostatesman.com
Their picture hangs in the lodge at Bogus Basin.
Standing in their patch-covered ski jackets and wearing the leather boots and big sunglasses of the day, the five women smile in the bright sun on the side of the mountain high above Boise.
They are the first five women ski patrollers at Bogus to be admitted into the National Ski Patrol, an elite group of highly trained patrollers known for their skill and love of the sport.
The five became four on June 10 with the death of Johnne Miller of Boise.
The breast cancer she beat 12 years ago came back earlier this year and settled in her bones. Johnne would have been 77 on July 4.
The woman who would for the rest of her life embody the spirit of Idaho recreation, began her journey early when she met Boise High School track star Zee Miller. She married her high school sweetheart soon after graduating in 1949.
From that time on, the couple spent weekends and vacations either on the ski hill or behind a ski boat.
Mary Chapel, who was much younger than her older sister, remembers Johnne as a woman always looking forward to the next adventure.
"She always felt like she had to take one of us," she said of Johnne and her five siblings. "She'd pick us up and go waterskiing or four-wheeling."
After high school Johnne spent 11 years working for the Bureau of Land Management in Boise, giving her the chance to learn more about the places she loved.
Most folks remember Johnne and Zee as the owners of Miller's Marina, which they opened together in 1960.
For the next 35 years, the couple surrounded themselves and their three children with the tools they needed to get into the Idaho backcountry they loved.
"I remember as kids, Johnne and Zee would invite (us) to go water skiing. Ever patient, Johnne and Zee would pull us almost up and then we'd go down again," said Johnne's grandson, Adam Hunter of Nampa. "They kept circling and getting us started again and again until we could water ski. ... I will always remember how fun those days were."
Johnne quit snow skiing in the late '70s when thrombosis in her ankles prevented her from wearing ski boots. But she quickly switched to snowmobiling to get her up into the mountains.
Even after she was diagnosed, treated and recovered from breast cancer in 1995, she found herself back on the seat of four-wheelers and snowmobiles, riding into the backcountry.
Framed pictures cover the walls of Johnne and Zee's home, and photo albums, jammed with pictures of Johnne, Zee and their family are scattered throughout the home. The pictures are set against snow-covered peaks in the Trinities or the spray of water behind a ski boat at Lucky Peak. There are strings of fish caught at various trips to Red Fish Lake near Stanley or Warm Lake.
In many of the shots, you can see Johnne smiling from under the face shield of her helmet while sitting on her bright red snow machine.
It is the same smile of that young woman so many years ago standing on the side of a ski mountain with her friends on the Bogus Basin ski patrol.
David Kennard: 377-6436
In Remembrance is a weekly profile on a Treasure Valley resident who has recently passed away. To recommend a friend or loved one for an In Remembrance, e-mail dkennard@idahostatesman.com.

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