Obituary: Janice J. Miller

Janice Joy Miller was born on November 16, 1939, in Grand Island, Nebraska, to Eugene "Snooks" and Lola (Ganow) Engle, the second of six children. She passed away peacefully at her home in Exeter on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, after a courageous battle with breast. cancer, at the age of 85 years, 10 months, and 28 days.

As a young girl, Janice loved going to the library, movies, swimming, and attending parades. When she was 10, the family moved from Grand Island to Exeter. Janice attended Exeter Public Schools and graduated in 1957. While in high school, she enjoyed countless movies and school dances with close friends June, Judy, Susan, and Donna. They became lifelong friends. Janice met John C. Miller when he joined Exeter Public Schools as a freshman. They dated throughout high school and were united in marriage on April 11th, 1959. John & Janice were blessed with 4 children: Pam, John R., Janet, and Cathie. 

John and Janice made their home in rural Exeter. Janice embraced life as a farm wife, always ensuring a hot meal was ready and provided transportation from field to field. She found joy in gardening, canning, freezing, sewing, baking, and welcoming family and friend into their home. Later, she worked as a substitute cook at Exeter Public Schools, where she would sneak her grandkids extra cookies. Speaking of cookies, she was known far and wide for her decorated sugar cookies and delicious chocolate chip cookies! Every wanted a "Grandma Cookie!" She was very proud to teach her grandkids and great-grandkids her special recipe that included 12 shakes of salt, with the extra special hip shakes.

Janice enjoyed playing bridge, tending to her flowers, family campouts, sewing masks during COVID, and creating personalized birthday and anniversary cards for her family. Her greatest pride and joy were her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She loved reading and singing special songs with the little ones. As all the kids got older, she could always be found cheering them on at every activity, sometimes attending three to four events in a single day. Later, when she could not attend in person, she watched online. Janice was also an avid Husker fan; if the Huskers were playing, she was listening or watching, no matter the sport.

Janice was a member of the Exeter Methodist Community Church for more than 50 years. She served in numerous leadership and fundraising positions at church for many years.

She is survived by her husband of 66 years, John C. Miller, Exeter, NE; her children, Pam Northup (Tom), Grand Island, NE; John R Miller (Sheila), Exeter, NE; Janet Riepe (Doug), Spring Hill, KS; and Cathie Boyle (Bob), Crete, NE; 14 grandchildren: Janelle Williams (Clint), Dana Myers (Matt), Nick Nothrup (Amber), John D. Miller (Kilee), Chris Northup (Allyson), Jennifer Riepe, Jake Miller (Macy), Chelsea Thiem (Takota), MiKayla Jansen (Ben), Kirk Riepe (Kaylee), Riley Nichols (Amanda), Bridgette Nichols, Caitlynn Boyle, and Jayden Boyle; 22 great-grandchildren; her sisters, Sandy Bock (Larry), David City, NE and Glenda Cole (Dick), Columbus, NE; sisters-in-law, Cecilia Miller, Lealand, KS and Denise Engle, Victoria, TX; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and cherished friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Eugene and Lola Engle; grandson, Evan Riepe; parents-in-law, John O. and Melba Miller; sister, Donna Repenn; brothers Jim and Fred Engle; brothers/sisters-in-law, Alan Miller, Don Bock, Sharon & Ken Harre, and Iola Engle; and a great friend/cousin Darlene Harders.

What's New on the Library Shelves? | Classic/Non-Fiction

 Check out these new novels at the Exeter Public Library.

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow 

Before he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in 1835, the man who would become America’s first, and most influential, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Twain went west to the Nevada Territory and accepted a job at a local newspaper, writing dispatches that attracted attention for their brashness and humor. It wasn’t long before the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance, writing under a pen name that he would immortalize.

In this richly nuanced portrait of Mark Twain, acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow brings his considerable powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist, and lecturer, he eventually settled in Hartford with his wife and three daughters, where he went on to write The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He threw himself into the hurly-burly of American culture, and emerged as the nation’s most notable political pundit. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play.

Drawing on Twain’s bountiful archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures the man whose career reflected the country’s westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars, and who was the most important white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery. Today, more than one hundred years after his death, Twain’s writing continues to be read, debated, and quoted. In this brilliant work of scholarship, a moving tribute to the writer’s talent and humanity, Chernow reveals the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in American history.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Follow the young and mischievous Tom Sawyer as he joins forces with Huckleberry Finn, an adventurous vagabond boy, and together they set off on a thrilling escapade down the majestic Mississippi River. With his exceptional storytelling, Mark Twain captures the essence of boyhood, friendship, and the complexities of society in the Antebellum South era. These iconic tales continue to captivate readers of all ages with their humor, wit, and enduring charm.

Running For My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong

Running for My Life is not a story about Africa or track-and-field athletics. It is about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible; it is about faith, diligence, and the desire to give back. It is the American dream come true and a stark reminder that saving one can help save thousands more.

In this heart-wrenching story, you’ll learn about: Lopez Lomong’s harrowing kidnapping at the age of six, becoming one of the Lost Boys of Sudan; His survival in a prison refugee camp and his miraculous escape; How he arrived in the U.S. through the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program; Lomong’s journey from high-school track star to U.S. Olympic team captain

Lopez Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike-sponsored athlete on the U.S. Olympic Team. Though most of us fall somewhere between the catastrophic lows and dizzying highs of Lomong's incredible life, every reader will find in his story the human spark to pursue dreams that might seem unthinkable, even from circumstances that might appear hopeless.