SPS Today: Remembering Timothy Perkins Miller and Lenore "Lee" Hawley
Community Members Who Touched Lives
In 2017, the School lost two beloved members of its community. Faculty emeritus Timothy Perkins Miller died at 76 on April 10, 2017, in York Harbor, Maine. Former faculty spouse Lenore “Lee” Jones Hawley died on August 9, 2017, at the age of 80.
Timothy Perkins Miller
Tim Miller was a teacher, ski coach, and artist, who inspired generations of SPS students in his 25 years at the School. He joined the Art Department faculty in 1973, focusing on three-dimensional art, and went on to teach nearly every area of the fine arts. Tim also was an accomplished sculptor, specializing in dramatic steel designs that he made in his York Harbor studio. He also traveled to Italy, where he carved marble in Carrera and cast bronze outside Florence. Tim was a superb skier, having raced in the 1950s, coached for many years at St. Paul’s, and served on the board of directors of the New England Skiing Association.
Sam Reid ’81 considered Tim a lifelong friend, who encouraged his creative side, even when that meant maintaining a high tolerance for his students’ ideas.
“He was my art teacher, who had the wonderful sense of humor to oversee the great hot tub art project caper of 1981,” recalls Reid. “Yes, together we built a fully functional hot tub, in bright red fiberglass, as an art project at SPS. His devotion to the School was deep. That love, however was only outdone by his devotion to his family.”
Tim is survived by his wife, Margret Miller; his children, Timothy “Perkins” Miller, Jr. ’86 and Carrie Miller Payne ’89, from his first marriage to Helene Miller, who died in 1980; and four grandchildren.
Lenore “Lee” Jones Hawley
Lenore Hawley and her husband, Walter, came to St. Paul’s School in 1969, where Lenore particularly enjoyed serving as a dorm “mother” in Simpson House and serving the same function for the Astronomy Club for many years. As Walter Hawley developed the School’s growing astronomy program, Lenore assisted students in the darkroom with their celestial photographs. In the mid-1980s, when the program began documenting astronomical observations on film, Lenore, a wonderful photographer herself, guided students through the development process. Her work allowed Walter to focus on monitoring the telescopes. Walter retired in 1995, and the Hawleys left St. Paul’s after 26 years of service.
In 2002, the Hawleys were honored at the opening of the Walter and Lenore Hawley Astronomy Center. When alumni approached the School about endowing the Astronomy Program and naming the observatory for Walter, he insisted that his wife’s name must also be included, because she was so much a part of its creation and success.
“Lee not only tolerated Walter’s constant nights out, helping students in the SPS observatory,” said Meg Ziegler Ferguson ’77, sharing thoughts from herself and her husband, astronomer Harry Ferguson ’77, “she also supported and encouraged the development and growth of the Astronomy Program.”
Lenore is survived by Walter; her children, Ann Panteleos and Lynn Hawley ’84, and their spouses; and six grandchildren.