Ms. Edwina Elaine Miller

Age 71

Northport Funeral & Cremation Service family extends our warmest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the family of Ms. Edwina Miller. Ms. Miller passed away on Sunday, November 10, 2024 in Tuscaloosa, AL. 

 Edwina Elaine Miller

Edwina Elaine Miller, 71, of Northport, Alabama, died peacefully November 10, 2024.

Born in Aurora, Colorado, on December 15, 1952, to parents Alice Mae Robertson (Mama Sally) and Edwin I. Miller, Edwina joined her brother William, and Mark Miller her baby brother followed in four years. As an Air Force family they traveled where the military stationed them—Colorado, Montana, South Carolina, California, and the Philippines. After completing service, the family settled in Ashville, Alabama. Edwina graduated from Southside High School in 1969, completed her BA at the University of Alabama in 1973, pursued graduate studies and teaching in the English Department through 1978, before answering her true call – attending Law School (1979-82) and practicing law (1983 to 2024).

Simply, she was born to practice law. In the practice of law was a confluence of her understanding and empathy with all cultures and types of people gleaned from her travels as part of a military family, her critical reading/reasoning/writing/argumentative/verbal skills from her English studies and teaching, and her passion for and study/application of the legal principles that were instilled in law school.

Edwina played many roles for many people in this town. Capital Defense attorney, Bankruptcy, Guardian Ad Litem, and her favorite role, Adoption Attorney. She assisted, tutored, and provided referral for numerous young attorneys starting out. She will be remembered as a woman who spoke the truth acerbically or with love depending on the need. She also was a loyal and loving spouse to Linda Crowder. If you were her friend, she was loyal, attentive, and loving beyond measure.

In her later years the role she played with the most fervor was “Nana”. When Maggie, Sarah Gayle, then finally Mattie Kendell came along, she was a forever changed woman. She engaged fully and regularly with this new generation of family. From regular dinners out to ‘teach them how to behave in public’, to ‘Wild Girls Friday Nights’, to weekend playtimes at the ‘Nana House’. Edwina Miller was in love all over again with those girls. Her love for them showed in every meal she cooked, every braid she made, every gift she gave, every hug, she was the consummate Nana and made no bones about it.

She loved and lived right out loud and passed some of her very best pearls of wisdom and examples of love in action on to Maggie, Sarah Gayle, and Mattie Kendell. We know that as long as those girls live on this earth the legacy of Edwina Elaine Miller, NANA will thrive. Who could ask for more!

She is pre-deceased by her parents-Sally and Edwin Miller, brother William Miller, stepson Chad Spencer and Cousin Claude Burns.

She is survived by her wife of thirty-seven years Linda Crowder (Northport), brother Mark Miller and wife Debbie (Ashville), stepson Roy B. Spencer (Tuscaloosa), daughter-in-law Kandy B. Spencer (Tuscaloosa), granddaughters Maggie Ellen Spencer (Tuscaloosa), Sarah Gayle Spencer (Northport ) and Mattie Kendell Spencer (Northport ), Amy Rush-Brown (Gordo) sister-in-law Carolyn Wade Miller (Southside), nephew Johnny W. Miller (Southside), Nephews, Nathan, Benjamin, Joseph and Nieces Anna and Claire plus three great nieces and two great nephews.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to: Tuscaloosa Angels, Peoples Loan Program, Equal Justice Initiative, or a charity of your choice.

A celebration of her life will be held Saturday, November 23, at 12:00 P.M. at the University of Alabama School of Law, 101 Paul W. Bryant Drive, East, Tuscaloosa, AL 3548, in the Moot Court Room. Please bring a smile and an Edwina story or remembrance that you can share in public, and which will not end with an indictment.

So let it begin. There was only one Edwina. She’s moved on but her impact will be celebrated here by all blessed to know her.

Sail on silver girl. See ya later.

Compassionate, sympathetic, and professional service has been entrusted to the hands and care of the Northport Funeral & Cremation Service Professional Team.