Obituary

Erna Wahl Miller, 82, senator’s secretary

Erna Wahl Miller, a longtime private secretary to Sen. Henry M. Jackson of Washington state, died April 20 at her Capitol Hill town house after an apparent stroke. She was 82.

Born in Bjung, Norway, she emigrated with her family to Everett, Wash., in 1922.

She attended Washington State University, where she was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and then took a job at the Snohomish County Courthouse. Mr. Jackson, then a U.S. representative and a family friend, offered her a job in the District after a chance meeting.

Mrs. Miller returned to Washington state in 1955 to help care for her ailing father, and later became an administrative assistant to John L. O’Brien, speaker of Washington state’s House of Representatives. In the legislature’s off-seasons, she served as administrative secretary to the Washington State Interim Legislative Council, headquartered on the University of Washington’s campus in Seattle.

Her 1963 marriage to Joseph S. Miller, a Seattle newspaperman turned D.C. lobbyist, brought her back to the District and the staff of Mr. Jackson, who had been elected to the Senate. She served as his private secretary until his death in 1983.

Upon retiring, she devoted herself to her family, her husband’s business interests and the four-story town house they purchased in 1977, where she won renown as a gracious Capitol Hill hostess. She served as a Cherry Blossom princess, representing Washington state in 1951.

Mrs. Miller was a member of the National Democratic Club and the National Press Club. She also was a health enthusiast and celebrated practitioner of hatha yoga for 40 years.

Survivors include her husband; two stepdaughters, Susan Lee Miller of the District and Nancy Miller Gillen of Stuart, Fla.; and four step-grandchildren.

At her request, there will be no services or interment. Donations may be made to the Gaylord A. Nelson Earth Day Foundation, University of Wisconsin, 1848 University Ave., Madison, WI 53726.