Georgia – The family of Colleen Kissane sadly announce that our mother, grandmother, great grandmother, step-mother and beautiful friend passed away Thursday evening at the UVM Medical Center surrounded by her family. She was 93. Born Colleen Shirley Miller June 20, 1925 in Fitch Bay, Quebec the 6th of seven children to Benjamin Franklin Miller and Mae Thompson Miller. She grew up in Rock Island, Quebec and graduated from Bugbee Business School at Stansted College. In 1945, Mom married Morton… Read More » Cushing, a U.S. Customs Officer working in Derby Line, Vermont. Dad began teaching school in Morrisville in the fall of 1945, later relocating to Essex Junction where he began his legal career. Mom and Dad moved to St. Albans in 1952 where they raised their three children. Dad passed away in 1963. Mom later married John Kissane. They had a wonderful life together for more than 30 years. John passed away in 2005 and Mom began a new journey residing in her home on St. Albans Bay. Mom was passionate about skiing, dancing, tennis, writing, traveling and being fiercely independent. Mom learned to ski on a pair of skis made by her brother Rudy on the hills near Stansted College. Mom continued to ski into her 80’s with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She rarely missed an annual “Bill and Burt” ski trip to various locations out west and skied the Alps in Switzerland and Austria. She told many stories of her life growing up in Rock Island and Stanstead during the depression and war years. Her father passed away when she was quite young and her mother, Mae Miller, with British resolve, raised seven children, keeping them fed from a large garden, back yard raised chickens, and taking in borders. Her brother Howard “Tarz” Miller served in the Canadian Army from 1939 – 1945. Every evening the Miller household was tuned to the BBC. Mom worked at the Royal Bank of Canada before moving to Vermont. She also worked as book-keeper for the Windridge Tennis Center in Jeffersonville, Vermont. She loved dancing and was usually the first and sometimes only person on the dance floor when the music started. For many years she could be seen kicking high in the chorus line of Cardiac Capers. Her brother Tarz was her hero growing up and gave her the security she needed at a young age. She loved our father but seemed to love her father- in-law more for his kindness, welcoming her into a new life experience. John Kissane was the love of her life. They shared many years together giving each other the freedom to pursue life’s adventures. She was predeceased by her sisters Elaine Gibson, Geraldine Coade and Beverly Kalf and three brothers, Rudy, Stanley and Howard; Her husband’s Morton Cushing and John Kissane. Mom leaves behind her children, Jean Hutchinson and her husband John, Sarah Cushing, and Steve Cushing and wife Cindy Deyak. Grandchildren Steve Hutchinson, Ann Hutchinson Yagerline and her husband John, Lara Cushing Robtoy and husband Jason, Emma Cushing and her husband Randy Holowaty, Sara Cushing, and Michael Deyak. Her great grandchildren, Katie, Steve, and John Hutchinson; Nat, Lilly, Annalise and Colleen Robtoy, Kallie Holowaty, Fritz Gerhardsen and Noah Deyak. She is also survived by three step-children, Gail Camisa, Edward Kissane and John Kissane, Jr. and their families. A celebration of Colleen’s life will be on Wednesday, September 12, 2018, for 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Bliss Room, St. Albans Museum, 9 Church Street, St. Albans. Expressions of sympathies may be made to the St. Albans Historical Society, P.O. Box 722, St. Albans, Vermont 05478. To Send Colleen’s family a written expression of sympathy or share a memory, kindly go to her online guest book at www.healdfuneralhome.com.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Colleen Kissane 2018.
Death notice for the town of: Saint Albans, state: Vermont