By Tabitha Johnston, The Shepherdstown Chronicle
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Over the past 91 years of her life, Elizabeth Miller has gone many places and seen many things. Out of all of them, some of her favorite memories are those of seeing bears in the wild.
According to Miller, this love for bears led to her developing a unique nickname.
“Everybody calls me Mama Bear,” Miller said, with a chuckle.
That nickname has followed her from when she worked as a real estate broker in Woodbridge, Va. to when she moved to Harpers Ferry and, recently, to when she moved to Canterbury Center nursing home.
According to Miller, her first encounter with a bear was while on an adventure through the tundra in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.
“It was magic,” Miller said. “This was the first trip I took! We rode around on tundra buggies. When I walked out onto the open platform one day, this 10-foot-tall polar bear got up on one of the wheels and came over the side. He was so close to me, I could smell his breath!”
