Who Was Who II of Hanover, IL - Grant Home

School in 1949 and from the University of Illinois in 1953. He was a U.S. Army
Veteran. Jerry married Elizabeth Eva Goodell and three children were born to this
union: David Charles Miller, Greg Parke Miller, and Nancy Beth (Miller) Rich. In
1955 they moved to Joliet and Jerry worked for Blockson Chemical Company and
attended the University of Chicago where he received his MBA. They later moved to
Toledo, Ohio, then to Morristown, New Jersey where he was a Vice President of Human
Resources for Mennen & Company, and then to St. Louis in 1991. In 1997 they retired
to Sanibel Island, Florida. Jerry died August 2, 2008; he was cremated and his ashes are
buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Miller, John Ulrick was born March 18, 1889 in Bronislawowka, Germany and was the
son of Carl and Elizabeth (Porcher) Miller. He and Elsie Draheim moved to the United
States in 1910, and after being processed through immigration at Ellis Island, they
married in March 1910 at a Lutheran Church in New York City. They took the train
west to Derinda to be near relatives of Elsie’s. They had four children: Alfrieda
(Miller) Smith, Louise (Miller) Groezinger, William “Bill” Miller, and Elsie (Miller)
Lamoreux. Elsie became ill during the flu epidemic of 1918 and died March 23, 1918,
a week after giving birth to their daughter Elsie. John later married Maria Regina Keller
on January 19, 1919 and five children were born to this union: Lawrence Miller, Dora
(Miller) Grundall, Floyd Charles Miller, Anna Mae (Miller) Neubert, and Frederick
“Fred” William Miller. John was a farmer for many years in the Derinda and Massbach
area and also in the Orangeville area. He worked at Camp Grant in Rockford and
owned a grocery store in Freeport for a time. He moved to Savanna for a time before
moving to Hanover, where he remained for a number of years. John worked as a
plumber at the Savanna Army Depot until he retired in 1955. John’s later years were
spent in Savanna. John died November 20, 1986 in Savanna and is buried in the
Massbach Lutheran Church Cemetery.
Miller, Lois Martha (Girot) This book is dedicated to my mother Lois Miller. The
nucleus of this book is from the scrapbooks that my Mother kept all of her life.
Lois was born June 30, 1928 in rural Hanover and was the daughter of Vincent Joseph
and Margaret Ann (Haas) Girot. She attended the Black School, Lost Mound School,
and Hanover School. In 1943 Lois lied about her age so she could help with the war
effort and began working at the Savanna Ordnance Depot at the age of 15. At home at
night, after work, Lois would write hundreds of short notes each week and take them to
work and place one of the “words of encouragement notes” into each box of ammo she
packed, to help brighten the day of the soldier that would open the box on the war front.
After the war ended Lois began working as a waitress at the Villa Café in Hanover
where she met her future husband, Floyd Charles Miller. They were married on May
25, 1946 in Hanover and two sons were born to this union: Jerald “Jerry” Lee Miller
and Terry James Miller. After her sons were both in school for a several years she
began working at Mitchell’s Ben Franklin store in 1959 and remained there until 1977.
Lois was a member of the Hanover VFW Ladies Auxiliary for over 60 years and for
many of those years she served as the secretary. In the mid-1960s, when the Vietnam
War began, Lois started sending birthday cards to every Hanover soldier in the military
on behalf of the ladies auxiliary and also one from her. This project escalated from just
birthday cards, and before long she was committed to writing four or five letters each
week and sending them to one of the soldiers stationed overseas. Lois remained doing
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