In Loving Memory
Eileen Ann Millea
December 4, 1928 - January 26, 2018

Services are pending.

Eileen Ann Millea was born on December 4, l928 in Emmetsburg, Iowa, the daughter of Hilary and Lillian (Flaherty) Millea. She was the fourth of eleven children, including three sets of twins. They grew up together as a large and loving family during the Great Depression and World War II.

Eileen received a Catholic school education at St. Mary's and Emmetsburg Catholic High School, graduating in 1947. She credited Father Mason and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in helping to fill her life with faith, hope and charity which sustained her throughout her life.

In l949, she entered the convent with the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) in Dubuque, Iowa, taking the name, Sister Mary Bernardine.

During her 18 years as a BVM, her teaching assignments included nine years in Chicago, IL, and four years in San Francisco, CA. She taught grades 1 through 8.

In 1967, the BVM community discontinued using the religious habit and religious names, and the practice of living in community with other sisters. Each was to find her own residence. These changes, coupled with other cultural and societal changes, were a time of upheaval to the church, and to Eileen personally.

Eileen left the BVM order, but continued to observe her perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the will of God. Throughout the rest of her life she continued to teach Christian doctrine by word and example, and by giving away holy prayer cards, especially of the Our Father and the Ten Commandments, which she routinely quizzed her nieces and nephews on!

With the help of her family, Eileen was able to adjust to her new life outside the convent. She continued her teaching career as a middle school math teacher in Carpentersville, IL for the next seven years, spending her summers in Cedar Falls, IA with her parents while attending graduate school at the University of Northern Iowa. She received her Master's Degree in elementary school counselling in l971.

After resigning from teaching she cared for her elderly parents until their deaths in 1976.

Eileen's next phase of life took her to the wonderful warm weather of Arizona, where she purchased Del Sol Apartments in Scottsdale. She enjoyed twelve joyous years there, with work, fun, music, and friends.

No stranger to hard work, Eileen did everything herself. She mowed the lawn, cleaned the pool and the apartments, painted walls, and best of all, emptied the quarters from the machines in the laundry room. She came to know tenants from many walks of life during her years there.

Gifted at music, Eileen belonged to the choir at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Scottsdale, where together with good friends Rosemary and Genevieve, Eileen enjoyed their weekly schedule of Thursday night choir practice,
Friday night Happy Hour at luxury resorts in Scottsdale where they could buy a drink and get all you want to eat at snack bars, then Sunday Mass, followed by breakfast together.

Rosemary was also Irish, and she and Eileen travelled together to Ireland twice, where Eileen conducted research and compiled meticulous family history records while staying with Irish relatives.

In the late l980's there was a big real estate crash across the country, and in spite of her best efforts, she lost her beloved Del Sol apartments.

With help from family and friends, she sold everything, packed her car and moved to Florida, where sister Jean had a condo in Sun City Center, thus beginning yet another new phase of life for Eileen. She was able to buy her own condo, which she enjoyed for many years as her own personal "paradise" amidst beautiful sunsets, trees, flowers and bushes, squirrels and birds. As Eileen described it, "This is my kind of town, and I love it!"

Other family members also bought condos in Sun City, and Eileen found herself surrounded by family once again.

As the years went by and Eileen's health began to fail, she continued to be a warrior for Christ by way of email, Facebook, and postal mail, providing Christian teaching, encouragement, and guidance to the ever-expanding family as new generations joined the family history records that she continued to maintain.

In 2014 the time came for Eileen to go into assisted living in Tampa, FL, where she began to prepare for the end days of her life, spiritually and practically. She continued to be a source of inspiration and love to generations of Millea descendants, and was visited and cared for by many family members that were happy to give back to the woman that had given so selflessly to them throughout their lives.

Eileen passed away peacefully on January 26, 2018 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, FL after a brief illness at the age of 89. She was preceded in death by her parents, four sisters, Veronica Ohrtman, Ruth Avila, Catherine Mettler, and Jean Millea; and brother Tom Millea.

Left to cherish her memory are two brothers, Jim Millea of Hartwick, New York, and Bob Millea and his wife, Becky of Tulsa, Oklahoma; three sisters, Jeanette Smith of Emmetsburg, Iowa, Maureen Hemann and her husband, Bob of Emmetsburg, Iowa, Madeline Lynch and her husband, Tom of Emmetsburg, Iowa; and many nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.

Eileen's final resting place will be together with her sister Jean, amongst the graves of her parents and siblings at the Evergreen Cemetery in Emmetsburg. "Now enter into the kingdom prepared for you from all eternity."

All who knew and loved Eileen will miss her sharp wit, her love of music and hearing her play guitar and piano, singing everything from hymns and Irish folk songs, to "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road" and "The Ballad of Snoopy & the Red Baron," her wonderful stories, emails, and letters always signed off with "Love ya, Eileen," and her solid example of what it means to live a faithful Christian life. She loved children, and was a favorite amongst her many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, Eileen's desire was that you please pray for the repose of her soul.