Ivette Martin Miller, An Active Senior

In honor of National Library Week, we recognize a former library worker.

Mrs. Ivette Martin Miller, usually known as Betty, was a former employee of the Sandusky Library. For a time she was in charge of the circulating library at Viewpoint, where she was also a resident. An article in “The Elderlies” column by Karl Kurtz, in the August 14, 1976 issue of the Sandusky Register provides more information about Betty’s background and her determination. Betty started working in Sandusky in 1913, around 17 years old, at her uncle Fred Martin’s ice cream parlor in the old West House building. Kurtz wrote that he and his friends would try to confuse Betty when they ordered sodas or ice cream sundaes, but she always got their orders correct. When Fred Martin moved his ice cream parlor, along with a restaurant, to the Cooke Building, Betty became the manager of the bakery department. 

Later she worked for the B& O and New York Central Railroads, in the ticket office. In 1922, Betty married Edwin Miller, who passed away in 1952. By 1970 Betty had moved to the Viewpoint Apartments, where she was a neighbor to Karl Kurtz. Around 1974, Betty fell and broke her right shoulder. In spite of several operations, and complications, her arm remained in a sling for quite some time. Karl said that Betty should be given a medal for “cheerfulness in time of anxiety, suffering, unselfishness, and endurance in face of much tribulation and trial, while retaining steadfast faith in a higher power.” Throughout her health problems, Betty always tried to cheer up others, and kept a positive attitude. If you would like to read this article in its entirety, along with dozens of other human interest stories, you can see a three-volume compilation of Karl Kurtz’s “The Elderlies” columns at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

Below is a picture of Betty when she was a volunteer with the Women’s Auxiliary at Sandusky’s former Providence Hospital. Betty is in the front, on the left side. In this picture the ladies were modeling hats, some of which were made from pieces of hospital equipment.