Editors note: We picked up this story when Midge Price ’84 sent us a lovely email  speculating that her family was perhaps the first to have three generations of Greeners.

Three generations of Greeners in the Miller-Price family gather for a portrait–from left to right are Monty Miller ’76, Midge Price ’84, David Price ’83, and Nora Price ’16. “Luckily I have enough laundry to use as an excuse to take the bus home and eat dinner with everyone about once a week,” notes Nora, who just started her freshman year at Evergreen.

Monty Miller ’76, the matriarch of the Miller-Price family, graduated from high school in 1952.  She started her college career in Germany, because her father, a military man stationed overseas, only agreed to pay her college tuition if Monty lived with him. Monty didn’t finish her degree immediately, she returned to the states, and a few years slipped by.

At 35 Monty decided it was time to finish up that degree.  She was very excited to visit the University of Washington with a group of friends to learn about their psychology department. However that excitement wouldn’t last long. “They told me I was too old. It felt like they poured a bucket of water on me.”

Fortunately, Monty soon learned about Evergreen’s flexible curriculum with its Independent Learning Contracts.  She became eager once again and became a student at Evergreen where she felt accepted in the campus community in spite of her age.

After Evergreen Monty went on to earn a master’s degree in psychology at Antioch University which she put to good use in a long career of service.   Before her retirement, you could find Monty in Bremerton, working at the Crisis Clinic or helping with other community projects.

Her daughters, Midge Price ’84 and Jamie Miller ’87 (married to James Norton ’86), followed in Monty’s footsteps and attended Evergreen.  Midge chose Evergreen, because she was looking for a full education.  “I knew from my mother’s experience that TESC could accommodate my desire to learn a little about a lot of things, or a lot about one narrow area,” she recalls.

Midge’s partner, David Price ’83, attended Evergreen as well. “I had great educational experiences at Evergreen, taking a broad range of classes in anthropology, history, geology, ecology, and of course writing—in 1982 I traveled with Mark Papworth and an Evergreen course to work on an archaeological excavation in Israel, and traveled in Syria, Jordan and Egypt.” David credits Evergreen’s focus on writing across the curriculum as having a large impact on him in his career as an anthropologist and author.

David and Midge are excited that their daughter, Nora, chose Evergreen this year.  “Evergreen seems like a natural choice for Nora, with opportunities in the studio arts, and great interdisciplinary options. I know she’ll get a challenging and broad education,” reflects David. For Nora, “it feels both strange and comforting to be at Evergreen as a student and resident of Olympia.”

Nora’s first program, Iconoclasms, explores art and art history and asks questions such as: What perceptions and convictions inspire people to attack, deface or destroy images? and What is achieved by burning a Quran or toppling a statue of a government leader? Nora sees the benefits of having a Greener family. “I don’t have to explain how it all works to my family, because everyone knows! I just have to explain what ‘Iconoclasms’ means.”

In their own way, each of the Greeners in the Miller-Price family is using their Evergreen education and leading a life of learning. These days Midge works as a Physician Assistant and specializes in ears, nose, and throat medicine. David is an anthropology professor at Saint Martin’s University with research interests related to anthropological interactions with military and intelligence agencies. Monty stays sharp with Sudoku puzzles and spends time with her cat, Patches. And though Nora is at school, she still visits her grandmother on weekends to help her with her emails.

Readers: Is the Miller-Price family the only family with three generations of Greeners? Tell us your Greener family story.