Obituary of Miriam Freddolino Scoggins
Miriam Ann Freddolino Scoggins was born April 3, 1949. She left us on January 29, 2019, and joined her son Jim who had passed away August 31, 2018.
Miriam was born in the Bronx, New York, and lived there until 1954 when the family moved to Yonkers, NY. There she attended St. Barnabas Elementary School until 1963. She spent much time with her brother Paul (1946-) who graduated from high school in 1963. That summer parents Louis (1904-2003) and Mary (1907-1992) moved to Anaheim, California to be close to our brother Ernie (1934-) and sister-in-law Jean (1931-) and their children Jennifer and Philip. Miriam attended Cornelia Connelly High School in Anaheim and graduated in 1967.
After a year at Seattle University she moved to New York City where she attended Barbizon Secretarial College for a year. She then moved to Peoria, Illinois where she graduated from Bradley University with a degree in dietetics.
Miriam’s first full-time position was in Chicago, and over the years she moved from the food service industry to the Indian Health Service (HIS) and finally to the Veterans Administration (VA). She was always excited about her work and dedicated to the people she served, particularly at the IHS and the VA. One of her proudest professional accomplishments was to earn the credential of licensed dietetics educator, using that training and her experience to author several cookbooks and self-help guides for people with diabetes and other chronic diseases. Miriam’s career took her from Chicago to Dartmouth, NH; Troy, NY; Ann Arbor, MI; with the HIS in Arizona, Montana, and Minnesota; and finally with the VA in Fresno, CA.
Miriam loved to travel. During the 1970s she made numerous trips to Europe, and later enjoyed three Alaskan cruises. Unfortunately her travel ambitions were curtailed by the injuries she suffered in an automobile accident in 2003.
Miriam’s son Jim was always the focus of her life. Particularly in the time that preceded Jim’s own challenges and Miriam’s accident they spent many great years together exploring new parts of the country. During Jim’s childhood years he enjoyed adventures with cousins Peter and David, including a week at NASA’s Space Camp in Alabama.
In addition to Miriam’s brothers and sisters in law (Ernie and Jean, and Paul and Donna) Miriam is survived by four nephews and nieces, eight great nephews and nieces, and close friends and loved ones in Arizona, Michigan, and California. Hers was a gentle and kind spirt, and all who met her and came to know her loved her.
May she rest in peace now without pain, and now with Jim forever.
A Celebration of Life will be held in honor of Miriam on Friday, February 1, 2019 at 10am at Bueler Funeral Home, 143 W. Arnold St., Camp Verde, AZ.
