Renée Miller
1953 – 2025
Robertsville, MO

Renée was a Christian first and a very outgoing, outspoken, joyful individual, with a true comedic wit. She looked for the beauty and goodness in just about everything and everyone she encountered. A devoted grandmother, mother, and wife - each of these roles she managed exceedingly well. She was also an animal lover, a dedicated pet mom to several dogs, several flocks of chickens, and even feral cats that show up occasionally on our property. Renée was the oldest of five very beautiful girls that were born to Richard and Betty Strini. From the oldest to the youngest they are - Renée, Rhonda, Robin, Richel, and Regina. I had the pleasure of meeting them all - a very competitive family that really enjoyed getting together and playing cards and other games - either inside or outside the house it just didn't matter. I never met a more fun family either before or after. Two of her sisters preceded her in death - Robin (1989) and Richel (2022).

We met in our late twenties at Lake of the Ozarks - Renée and my sister Janice were friends and worked together at Commerce Bank - Janice invited Renée down for a weekend visit and the rest is history. We were married on July 9, 1983, at a small chapel (Brentwood Church of God) in Brentwood, MO. She had two boys from a previous marriage who were 8 (David) and 10 (Brian) who were with us often.

In our younger years we spent much of our free time boating at the Lake of the Ozarks, Incline Village, or on the Mississippi River. She enjoyed boating, swimming, and water skiing although she really preferred a swimming pool as opposed to lakes and rivers. She always said she liked to be able to see the bottom and liked the critter free environment especially. Although floating on a raft in "Swine" cove at the lake was something I know she enjoyed - we often reminisced about that. We would all have our own mat and would race around or fight with pool noodles. We would visit these places often - all four of us - for as long as we owned the boat.

We lived in an apartment when we were first married but it wasn't long before we were house hunting. Our first house was a nice brick ranch in Florissant, MO. I'll never forget when we bought that first house - I was very nervous signing those papers and going into thousands of dollars of debt. This didn't really phase Renée as she worked in banking and finance dealing with large numbers like this all the time. We kept our first house four years and then we moved to a nice split-level home in Maryland Heights, MO this was our primary home until late 2016.

Around 2005 we purchased a small seven-acre place in Robertsville, MO. We always thought it was funny that it was deeded out of Catawissa, had a Robertsville mailing address, and was actually way closer to Dittmer, MO. Originally - this property only had a mobile home, a detached garage, carport, and pond. Over the years we added a chicken coop, barn, greenhouse, and a couple of sheds - one of which we turned into Renée's She-Shed or as she liked to refer to it - her Chick-Inn. She loved the wildflowers, bees, hummingbirds, and wildlife that live alongside us. A neighbor raises cattle and she really liked seeing the cows up close and got a real kick out of the time when they broke through the fence and were having a field day on our property down by our pond. Renée was able to retire in 2007. Once we started raising chickens she lived at this property full time with our pets which always included small dogs. I'd stay at our Maryland Heights home through the week - as it was much closer to my work - and then be out in Robertsville for each weekend. We did this until we finally sold the city property in 2016 and then lived in the country our remaining time together.

Renée had a one act play with six lines that she would act out herself by playing all the parts and would make us all laugh with her creativity. I don't know exactly when she came up with this or who may have influenced it - and I'm disappointed in myself that I never recorded her doing this as many times she did it. She would take a tissue and shape it, so it resembled either a lady's hair bow or a man's mustache depending on where she placed it. She'd change her voice as needed to differentiate between the men and lady. The play went like this...

1. (Man 1) "You must pay the rent."(mustache).
2. (Lady) "I can't pay the rent."(bow).
3. (Man 1) "You must pay the rent!"(mustache).
4. (Lady) "I can't pay the rent.”(bow).
5. (Man 2) "I'll pay the rent."(mustache).
6. (Lady) "My hero."(bow).

As I write this, I can hear her voice in my head as she is performing - I hope I did her justice with this description.

Renée was a super-taster, and this helped make her a fabulous cook and baker. She could taste something and tell you the ingredients used to make it up. She normally didn't use recipes - she would make something on the fly and just wing-it - the end result was always delicious. I often asked her how are you going to duplicate this or that - she would simply say the next batch will be better than this was - and invariably that was always the case. This was a true gift that she had.

Renée also had a knack for matching things - whether it was the home or her clothes - everything matched perfectly. She would often say "Matching things find me" and that was the truth. She loved wearing hats that matched her outfit - she had multiple hat bands that she could swap out to ensure a great look. She was awesome at this and always had me take a picture of her before she went out so she could inspect her look and not rely on me or my suggestions which would typically fall short of her expertise.

Such a fun-loving and out-going person she was. I called her my "Love Bug" and was even able to find her a pendant that endeared this. We did have a good life together just way too short - forty-two years went by way too fast.

I’m a much better person by knowing her.

I love and miss you honey "Always"!

Greg