ROXIBETH (BETH) BIRDWELL MILLER
1924-2020
Roxibeth (Beth) Birdwell Miller passed away Wednesday, December 30, 2020. Beth was born on the 21st of November 1924 on a farm in Richmond, Texas, the only child of Glenn and Lucile Birdwell who preceded her in death along with her husband, Charles Miller.
Beth is survived by daughter, Dr. Mary Lynn Patton of Morelos, Mexico; son, Dr. Robert Patton and wife Chris; grandchildren: Kyle Patton, Ben Patton, and Merritt Patton Moses; and great grandchild Violet Patton.
Beth attended school in Richmond, Texas and graduated from Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas. She is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and Junior League of Houston.
Beth raised her children in Austin and later made her home in Houston with her husband Charles. They purchased the residence Sol y Sombra in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which Beth developed into a certified organic farm and botanical garden. Sol y Sombra was recognized as a Wildlife Habitat of Exceptional Merit by the National Wildlife Federation. There, she was an energetic leader of programs which involved ecological restoration and experimental high desert farming. The Millers made Sol y Sombra available as a meeting place to a wide variety of groups and individuals. Beth served on the boards of Windstar Foundation, the Sol y Sombra Foundation, the Center for Study of Community, and the Houston Zoo.
Beth was awarded a silver medal by the Royal Horticultural Society for the 2002 show garden “Clearwater, an Ecologically Sustainable Garden” exhibited at the Chelsea Flower in London. She received the 2003 Keep Houston Beautiful Award for Houston’s Liberty Gardens. In 2004, PBS produced a documentary about her water reclamation work entitled “Clearwater: One Woman’s Prayer.”
Beth spent her last three years with her daughter in Tepoztlán Mexico, near Cuernavaca, in Morelos, the state of “eternal spring.” In a climate similar to the one in Santa Fe, NM she shared her work on water conservation of earlier years.