Louise Miller, retired teacher and camp director, dies

Louise Hope Pitt Miller, a camp director, photographer and retired teacher, was selfless to the last moments of her life, said her husband, Kenneth Cameron Miller III.

Many people close to her did not know about her 15-year battle with cancer, he said. It wasn't something she would talk about and burden people with, he said.

"It's amazing to me how many people had no idea that she had been sick," he said. "She was unselfish until the end."

Mrs. Miller, known to her family as "Boomba," died Thursday. She would have been 59 tomorrow.

Born in Richmond, Mrs. Miller graduated from Collegiate School in 1968. She was in the first class of undergraduate women at the University of Virginia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English and a master's in English education. She taught English and photography at various schools until she retired in 2002.

For 19 summers, she worked at Camp Virginia, a camp for boys in Rockbridge County; her grandfather was its founding director. The camp offers swimming, horseback riding, archery and sports activities. Mrs. Miller and her husband became the third-generation directors several years ago.

Leslie Blair, a longtime friend, said Mrs. Miller was a master at camping and made parents feel safe about leaving their children at the camp.

"She's a teacher and very dedicated to children," Blair said. "She's touched lives all over the world."

Mrs. Miller taught at TASIS, The American School in England, the Gilman School in Baltimore and at St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville. After she retired, she camped year-round and volunteered at George Mason Elementary School in Church Hill, Collegiate School and First Presbyterian Church in Richmond.

Miller said his wife's passion was photography and that her nature of not calling attention to herself allowed her to be great at it. She took thousands of pictures at camp, he said. "The medium of photography was perfect to express her affection for what the guys were doing."

Mrs. Miller photographed the boys at their happiest moments and with their broadest smiles, and parents appreciated that, her husband said. She would put the pictures in envelopes, write the boys' names on them and deliver them by hand or by mail.

Miller said his wife knew the value of simply spending time watching a game or sitting down on a bench with the boys.

"She knew the value of wrapping her arms around the boys," he said. "It made them feel like they had a mother figure nearby. She had strong opinions, and she had an indirect way of correcting boys without being demeaning."

He said she began to lose her battle with cancer around Christmas.

"I'm in awe of how hard she fought," Miller said. "I know that her work at camp with the youngsters energized her over the years and kept her body strong."

In addition to her husband, survivors include her mother, Betty C. Pitt; and two sisters, Betty Pitt Cimmino of Virginia Beach and Anne Pitt Rogers of Staffordshire, England.

A memorial service will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 4602 Cary Street Road in Richmond.

Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or .