Elizabeth Jane Miller Jenkins

Elizabeth Jane Miller Jenkins “Biddy”, age 89, died peacefully surrounded by family on April 21, 2023.

Biddy was born in Richardson Park, Delaware, in 1933. She was the daughter of the Drs. Elizabeth and Edgar Miller. Biddy graduated from Wilmington Friends School in 1951 and attended Mount Holyoke College where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year.

She married William Andrews Jenkins in 1954 and graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1955. Biddy was active in the community and was proud of her involvement in the Junior League of Wilmington where she served as president. Among the accomplishments of her term was the founding of DAPI – Delaware Adolescent Program, Inc., the only statewide comprehensive school-based program serving pregnant and parenting teens and their families. She was also involved with preservation of Old Brandywine Village, where the Junior League is headquartered.

When her youngest – Ann – went to first grade, Biddy went back to school and graduated with bachelors and masters degrees in nursing from University for Delaware. She taught clinical nursing from 1980 to 1998. She received many teaching awards, including Professor of the Year in 1984 and 1985, recognition for outstanding service and dedication to students in 1991, and the appreciation award from the senior nursing class in 1998. She also served as president of the Visiting Nurse Association.

She and Bill were avid travelers and traveled around the world twice en route to visit her parents who were serving as medical missionaries in Nepal. Bill died in 2001 and Biddy remarried John Day in 2013 in Hawaii where her daughter – Tyrie – served as the officiant. Among her other interests were gardening, bridge, tennis, and needlepoint. She was a self-taught fabulous cook. One of her favorite stories is how she won the nine-hole women’s golf championship at the Wilmington Country Club when she was nine months pregnant. When the pro expressed concern, she reassured him that if she gave birth during the tournament she would make sure she delivered in the sand trap.

Biddy was known for her irreverent wit.

She leaves behind her beloved husband John Wells Day; sister Bishnu Maya; children Tyrie, Andy (Lauren), John (Stephanie), Ann (Steve); stepchildren Paul and Vicki; grandchildren Doug, Annie, Isabel, Tyrie, Harry, Kylie, Ella, Sam, Emily, Jenn; and great grandchildren Maiya and William.

Services will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Planned Parenthood of
Delaware. (www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-delaware)