Katie Lynn Miller

Katherine (Katie) Lynn Miller, age 72, passed away on September 22, 2025, in Fort Collins, Colorado, surrounded by her three adult children and the love of her extended community. Katie was born in Columbus, Ohio on February 6, 1953, a daughter of the late Dr. Harry Johnson Miller and Lucia Taylor Miller. Katie grew up on the North Shore of Chicago with her four siblings (Sally, Lele, Tish, and Blair) and shared a deep and lasting connection with them. Katie was a rambunctious child with a strong sense of justice who blazed her own path in life. She even had an unusual pet - a spider monkey named Lizzie! Katie attended Park College in Kansas City, Missouri and was one of the founders of the Women's Resource Center. Katie married Pete Gasper during college and they quickly started a family. After a few years in Columbus, Ohio, Katie and Pete moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. Katie was a homemaker who volunteered every chance she could – in classrooms at Dunn/Washington Elementary, mentoring women at Crossroads Safehouse, and at Foothills Unitarian Church. Some of Katie's greatest joy came from her three children. Family time, from backyard adventures to cross-country road trips to Monhegan Island, Maine were always accompanied by a soundtrack of mixtapes with songs from Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Aretha Franklin, the B52s, the Vaughn Brothers, and Motown hits. Katie was fiercely devoted to her extended family as well. She has nine beloved cousins, 21 nieces and nephews, and 14 grand nieces and nephews. Katie planned several family reunions at the YMCA in Estes Park where the large extended family would gather together to sing, dance, hike, laugh, and play games. Katie was a founding member of a support group for young mothers who met at Foothills Unitarian for potluck lunches and community-building. Daytime potlucks evolved into a monthly night off from parenting filled with laughter, storytelling, support – this is how the Rowdy Mothers came to be. Through four decades of monthly meetings, annual mountain retreats, and the highs and lows of life, this group held Katie in friendship and they surrounded her with love in her very last days. Remarkably creative and artistic, Katie founded the Christmas Craft Fair in 1986 at Foothills Unitarian which is an annual tradition that still continues where children spend an afternoon making high-quality handmade crafts. Katie spent many years creating beautiful pottery bowls then pivoted to making art out of paper that she would make from pulp and dry on mesh screens. She would hand dye the paper, let it dry, cut it up and create colorful woven masterpieces. After raising three kids and relocating to Maryland, Katie pursued her lifelong goal of becoming a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner. She became a Registered Nurse and earned a Master's in Nursing at the University Of Maryland in 2001. Throughout her career she worked in a variety of healthcare settings, always making it a priority to advocate for and to promote women and women's health. In 2012, Katie became a grandmother and returned to Fort Collins to be closer to her friends and the community that she loved. She was a deeply loving mother and grandmother and is survived by her three children, Warren, Sally & Lynn and her six grandchildren: Heidi, Reese, Charlie, Owen, Elliott & JoJo. We invite you to share a memory of time with Katie, or condolences for her family at http://www.foothillsuu.org/memorialstories. These stories will be gathered and shared with Katie's family. We will be holding a Celebration of Life for Katie at Foothills Unitarian Church on Friday, October 24 at 3pm and the service will be live-streamed. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Crossroads Safehouse (www.crossroadssafehouse.org/donate), where Katie volunteered as a mentor to women in the 1980's and 90's. Katie surrounded herself with bright colors, beautiful artwork, silly items, good music and delicious desserts. Katie will be deeply missed. She wanted her community to think of her as you read the Mary Oliver poem "On Blackwater Pond," whenever you see a dragonfly, or when you are reminded of her favorite quote: "It's better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness."