Mama in Boston

In Loving Memories of my Mother,
Myra Jean Koehler

August 21, 1935 - May 22, 2006

Myra's Life Story

Adeline Miller Koehler and Harold Phillip Koehler had a beautiful baby girl on August 21, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois. She was named Myra Jean Koehler. Myra had a wonderful childhood. Her days were spent with wonderful admiration of her profound parents. She attended Schurz High School on north Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. She was a very good student and she excelled in Art. Her artistic interests lead her to the Academy of Art on State Street in Chicago, Illinois. After two years she earned her degree.

Myra used her incredible creative talents to design window displays at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. She worked pre-press at Liberty Playing Card Company in Wheeling, Illinois. OAK Industries in Crystal Lake, Illinois hired her to generate print film composites for membrane switches. In Boston, Massachusetts she laid out T-shirt designs for silk screening at the Peter Alexander Group. She was employed in Chelmsford, Massachusetts as she cut mats and framed pictures and paintings with expertise. Myra was a remarkable calligrapher. She had a perfectly steady hand that generated impressive letters which formed magical designs in words.

Myra by the UV prototyper - OAK Ind. 1980

Late in High School, Myra met Ralph Millard Duddles. They married and a year later had a wonderful daughter named Paula Jean. The following year Bryan Millard was born. Early in their marriage they lived on Kilborn Avenue on the west side of Chicago. After their children were born they moved to Olive Street in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Later they changed their address again to a custom home they had built on Clarendon Street less than one mile away from the Olive Street house. The family went on vacation to Florida. Years later they traveled to the east coast. They journeyed from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Maine and into Québec and Montréal. Then they headed back home through Michigan. California was their next vacation. They arrived in San Diego and drove up the coastal highways all the way to San Francisco, stopping at Disneyland and Yosemite National Park. Myra and Ralph divorced after fifteen years.

Myra met Robert Joseph Peache. They married and moved from Buffalo Grove, Illinois to Wheeling, Illinois. They moved to Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. Myra and Bob moved back to Barrington, Illinois for short while and then went back to Massachusetts to live in Chelmsford. Myra enjoyed helping Bob as he was involved in amateur auto racing. They spent wonderful days on the beaches of the Atlantic ocean.

Myra and Bob moved into a spacious home, that was originally a church, in Springfield, Tennessee. Myra retired in Springfield and spent her time framing her favorite photographs and paintings, decorating her home and taking care of her wonderful cat named Tessa Star. On May 22nd, 2006 Myra died peacefully in her sleep at her home.

Christmas and Halloween were Myra's favorite Holiday's. She thoroughly enjoyed all the decorations for each occasion. For Halloween she spent precious time with her children creating elaborate costumes. Birthday's were extra special days of celebration. Cat's were by far her favorite animals. Her favorite movie was "Casablanca". Recently her favorite TV show was "Two and a half men". Myra's favorite song was the hymn "In the garden" by C. Austin Miles (lyrics appear below), this was also her Mother's favorite song. Marbles were one of her favorite things to collect, especially the purple ones. She loved to laugh and her laughter was contagiously beautiful. She really liked meeting and talking to new people. Everyone loved her optimism, her sense of humor and the fact that she was very open minded. Her smile was adorable and she shared it with everyone. Her favorite flower was the gardenia and favorite color was purple. She loved the night time, the moon and stars. Myra showed tremendous love, respect and appreciation for her children. In our hearts she will live forever.

Bryan's Ceremonial Words

Myra Koehler Duddles Peache was a radiant soul with a smile that would light the deepest darkness. Her joy touched all of us as she held our hands through the calm and turbulent waters that fill our existence. Time could never obstruct her love from building the most powerful bonds which kept us all aligned in a perfect path to happiness.

Christmas 1955

Her strength taught us patience, courage gave us hope and laughter brought us to a place we never wanted to leave. Every heart she held was inspired by her generous desire to encourage the creativity within. The talent inside her precious dreams painted an immaculate portrait of an enviable life to live. An immortal mother, devoted wife and consummate friend, Mama was the greatest gift.

September 2005 at her yard sale

When we shine with brilliance in life, we forever shine at night. May the perpetual light from her spirit forever guide us all. She is the brightest star in all of our nights.

Mama's Viking Funeral Ship

Mommy's Ship

Song lyrics by Paula Duddles
& Shirley Roper

We will float a ship on Sulfur Creek,
to send our Mommy away.

The Vikings safely guide the ship,
to a place where she can stay.

She'll smile and laugh and be happy,
where the Angels dance and play.

We'll set the ship afire,
and send her on her way.

Yes Mommy's finally happy,
her soul is free today.

She lived a life filled with love,
her children made her smile.

She's in our hearts forever,
and we all love her so.

Bryan, Myra was the mom figure that I missed in my life, she brought smiles to my face and a deep love into my heart. I feel that I learned so much from her and through her I learned that life is a great thing and should be filled with much laughter and happiness. She also gave me my sweet Paula to love and have in my life. For this, I am forever thankful. Having Myra in my life for 28 years was one of the best, most loving things that has ever happened to me.

I still feel her presence in her Nashville home and in our home and know that she's trying to comfort Paula and help her deal with the grief, and I am comforted by that. I can almost sense the frustration on her part because she never wanted to have her children feel this type of pain and anguish. My heart hurts and I am saddened and will miss her deeply forever.  Much love to you and Kristie, Shirley

Myra Peache and I were introduced sometime about 1979, in a hot conference room at OAK Industries in Crystal Lake, Illinois. There stood a brightly smiling lady of middle age. She was my next in a week long series of interviews. The position reported to the Product Development Team, at the time supporting the new market of membrane switches; but she didn't know that. She also did not know that we needed a very intuitive, quality oriented expert in second surface printing of translucent laminate substrates. She just knew art and screen printing were required.

She was polite, a bit tense, earthy but no rough edges. Her background didn't quite seem to fit but I was intrigued at her realistic attitude. Myra, when confronted with the possibility that her qualifications were offside, decided she had a shot at the position as well as anyone and she thought that she might know enough about the layering of colors in screen printing to determine the answers to my test. It was a lengthy visit - some personal matters, some technical. It wore both of us out but was necessary to find out if there was real potential and a group fit. In that session I discovered a vocally creative, vibrantly alert person who could rely on humor to break the ice in a tough spot.

So I left her alone rolling around like a marble in the impressive conference center with some snacks and a drink and one tool, a stencil knife, to unwind the technical puzzle I had devised for the occasion; should anyone seem to have the ability. In about twenty minutes, I was called back to see the results. Not only had she correctly determined how the configuration was printed, but she showed a real enthusiasm for the new technology. The challenge seemed to waken her confidence to talk about other relevant background and alternative solutions. I was charmed at her clarity and amazed at her insightfulness and impressed with her can-do attitude. She was hired for the Art Department. Myra later intimated to me that it had been her most difficult and intense interview.

Together we grew in a New Product environment; trained ourselves on new state-of-the art equipment. She - twelve years older than I, and our other team member Elvi - 12 years older than she. We invented new materials, processes, devised testing, and cajoled customers. All this we did while preparing print film composites to engineering specs. Years afterward, Myra told me, she had thought at the time, that I was a real ass back then for being overly critical (tolerances were usually plus or minus three thousandths of an inch). But really the three of us were so well matched, it was difficult to tell who was the Mother Nag among us. The group had real glue, and Myra could be counted on to bring out some levity in each crisis usually leaving me rolling my eyes up into my eyebrows. She was also the best among us at skills requiring hand dexterity. But her hands balked at the seventy seven degree water bath in the photo lab where I caught her mincing about the floating films with her long fingernails like a cat teasing a goldfish. She claimed arthritis. We laughed a lot. She could be counted upon to revise and recut or reset art changes for engineers that had over shot their schedules. How she did it I'll never know, because she had an annoying habit of casually strolling through the day instead of doing the engineers' sprint, as though her mind was at a beach somewhere.

Then one day, whoosh, our co-working time was gone. She abruptly handed in her resignation and said she was going to join her husband Bob on the east coast. He had landed a slot near the top of The Wang Corporation in materials and testing. I never dreamed that one year later I also would be on the east coast working. I was put in contact with Myra again and we had a blast visiting, attending seminars, exchanging ideas, brain storming, eating her husbands culinary surprises, and eventually I was privileged to enter the world of her personal art and photography. She was a true visionary artist who lended part of her day to the world of mechanical reproduction. Every bit of her life and art was a view into the world of (My's) Looking Glass. Cats took on bizarre personalities that either she bestowed upon them or else were evoked from an exaggerated knowledge of them. I've always been envious of My's flourish. Art just dripped out of her hands.

When I had a right pneumothorax in New Hampshire, Myra and Bob were the only one's to visit me in the hospital. They came up from Massachusetts and surprised me with a goodies bag. Alone and 1,500 miles from any relative and in a new land, I was hit by how kind and thoughtful Myra and Bob were. Bob's Pre-Med experience filled me in on what doctors never tell you; but the things that were hidden in that bag were the lady's idea. I'm not saying what they were, but they put me in stitches and it hurt so good. Since then I have always felt very close to them both. Myra even arranged for me to do some part-time work with her at a screen printing company, when my outfit closed. She was always problem solving and caring for others. To acclimate me there, she took me to antique shops on the waterfront and we also went to Salem and did all the witch stuff.

Even after she and Bob finally moved to their present location in Tennessee and I regressed to Illinois, we propped each other up by phone and mail. Discussions went on for hours about job opportunities, what our relatives were doing, recent trips, and what the future would hold. We laughed at the temporal silliness of everything and I remember and enjoy every mental picture and insight she painted for me. And I have every piece of art she sent me. We looked forward to birthdays and holidays to see what art we would make for each other. She always made me feel bigger than I am. And I'm sure she did that for everyone. Her soft animated voice was comforting too. When we both got to the point of forgetfulness we each knew what the other was trying to say because, by then, we were mind readers. Once recently, she couldn't reach me and worried so that she called our local police station to see if I had died. Then later she asked me if I would send her some little personal memento that was dear to me by which she could remember me - in case I did go first.

Just a few months ago she mentioned where her grandmother's ashes were interred at a cemetery not far from me. So I went there, found her relatives, and surprised her by holding my cell phone up to the marker on the wall awhile so she could have some private words with her kin. That was our warped kind of fun and adventure. Now somehow, I have the feeling that, that contact opened a door to the other side and perhaps her folks called her spirit over.

At any rate, "Myra, I've said it before. Baby you're the best and I love you big. It's been a real pleasure knowing you. And if I get really sad I'll call your daughter just to hear the sound of your voice. And thanks for leaving behind some really fine talented people. See you soon."

Kathleen (Kathy) Dulen - an old boss and girl friend.