Miriam L. Littell

Miriam L. Littell (Mimi), 72, of Livingston, Montana, joined the Communion of Saints on Wednesday, April 4, at Livingston HealthCare Hospital. She was born October 12, 1945, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the daughter of Franklin H. and Harriet Lewis Littell, who were both Methodist ministers and academics.Baptized in 1947, and confirmed on May 1, 1959, at Glenn Memorial Methodist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, Miriams Wesleyan roots found fertile ground in her heart. She became devoted to her Lord Jesus and loved the hymns of Charles & John Wesley, as well as her King James Bible. She had an acute memory for poetry and could recite lines from the Gospels and sing hymns with no book in hand. In 1990 she joined Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, which she considered the love of her life. She was quite skilled at recruiting friends and even her brother Stephen to join her at the beautiful services there.At Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Miriam majored in journalism and French literature, and particularly enjoyed working as a reporter for The Cornellian. Miriams interest in journalism led to a long career as an editor, administrative assistant and researcher. She was manager of a four year study for The University of Wisconsin Center for Health Sciences, Madison, WI; managing editor for Dermatology and Allergy Magazine; advertising associate for Stern Walters Partners, Chicago; research librarian for the American Theological Library Association, Evanston; editorial associate at WTTW Channel 11/98.7 WFMT, Chicago; reader and editor for Legacy.com, Evanston; contributing editor for FJH Music Company; and admissions and enrollment assistant at New Trier Township High School, Winnetka, IL. She also volunteered, especially at Fourth Presbyterian Church. She retired in 2010 and moved in 2012 to Livingston, Montana, to be close to the Lewis relatives. The family was musical, and Mimi loved to sing with her parents, her brother and, especially, her two sisters, Jeannith Lawrence and Karen Littell.Miriams hobbies were reading, researching, writing poems and philosophical reflections in her journal, walking, watching and feeding birds, spoiling pets (her own and others), swimming, dancing, and playing music. She was a gentle spirit who loved children and animals and the downtrodden. She was blessed and burdened with an enormous heart and the ability to sympathize with defenseless creatures. She could not even kill an ant or a moth. Donations in her honor can be made to the ASPCA (aspca.org) or to Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, IL (fourthchurch.org).Miriam is preceded in death by her parents and her sisters Jeannith L. Lawrence and Karen Littell and survived by brother Stephen Littell, bother-in-law Duane Lawrence, nephew Stephen Hodgson, nieces, Sarah Newton (David), Rachel Kuntz (Craig) and Deborah Wilhite (Allen), as well as great nieces and nephews and many, many cousins. We will miss Mimi, a delicate bird who brought faith, beauty, music and happiness to this world.Cremation has taken place at Franzen-Davis Crematory. Memorial services are private. Arrangements are under the care of Franzen-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory.