Olive Wright Miller (9 November 1921 – 19 May 2020) was a British

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. Known as "Cayman's own Mother Teresa", she was the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

' first paid journalist and established its first retirement home.

Biography

Olive Hilda Miller was born in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England, on 9 November 1921. In 1946, Miller travelled to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

as a missionary for the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

. During her time as a missionary, she was based in Jamaica, but made periodic trips to the Cayman Islands, where in 1946 she founded a branch of what was to become the Girls Brigade. In 1949 she co-founded and taught at Cayman High School. In 1953 she married Caymanian Ray Miller in England, but they returned to

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...

in 1957. They had a son and a daughter, Kathryn and Nigel. Miller was the first paid news reporter in the Cayman Islands, starting work in 1964 on the ''Tradewinds'' newspaper, which her work helped to establish. In October 1965 she moved to the '' Caymanian Weekly.'' For eleven years, from 1970 to her retirement in 1981 she worked as Cayman’s first government information officer. In 1975 she was a founding member of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations in Cayman. From 1978 she served as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, specialising in juvenile cases. She was the first manager of The Pines, the first retirement home to be built in the Cayman Islands. She worked there from 1983 until 1991. In 1980, with Evelyn Andersen, she founded the ''Pink Ladies Volunteer Corps'', and in 1994 organised Cayman's first annual 'Glamorous Granny' competition. In 2011 she published her first book ''Cayman Rhyme Time,'' a children's book which features traditional songs from the islands. Miller died on 19 May 2020 at The Pines. On 20 May 2020, the Cayman Islands National Flag was flown at half-mast on all government buildings. She was described by '' The Cayman Compass'' as "Cayman's own Mother Teresa".

Awards

* Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour (1967) * Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(1977) * Vice-Patron – Brigade International (1983) * Listed as one of five “Distinguished Women of History” on the Cayman Islands (2003) * Spirit of Excellence Award (2009) * Golden Apple Lifetime Achievement Award (2010) * Officer of the Order of the British Empire (2018)

References

External links

A Mission of Service - Mrs. Olive Miller
(interview) {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Olive Hilda 1921 births 2020 deaths People from Essex Caymanian educators Caymanian women Caymanian people of British descent British missionaries British women journalists Women philanthropists Presbyterian missionaries Members of the Order of the British Empire