Joan Bitler Murcko-Miller, passed away on Monday, June 1, 2020 from complications of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) at the age of 78. She was born August 22, 1941 in Trenton New Jersey. Daughter of the late David Joel Bitler and Bertha May (Schenck) Bitler. She graduated from Hamilton H.S. West in 1959. After graduating from Pierce College for Women in Concord, NH, she became a civil servant and served as the secretary to the Base Commander at Osan AB in Seoul, Korea in 1964. Upon her return to Brooklyn, NY, she met her future husband, Army Lt. Col. William (Bill) Vincent Murcko. They were married on August 27, 1971, after Bill's retirement from the Army. They resided in Stratford, Connecticut until moving to New Port Richey, Florida in 1974, where she began a 25 year career in banking, serving as the Executive Secretary to the bank president and culminating with her retirement in 2001 as the manager of five branches of Sun Trust Bank.
On March 12, 1976, she and Bill became the proud parents of twin boys, David Joel (Christy) Murcko and William Vincent II (Alicia) Murcko. Her husband, Bill, passed away on December 23, 2001.
In 1992, Joan was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Trinity. She held the positions of secretary and newsletter editor and was named Rotarian of the Year for 2004-2005. She loved her Rotary family and attended several International Conventions.
While on a cruise in 2002, she met Gerald (Jerry) Miller (Major, USAF, Ret) and the couple were married on September 27, 2003 at the annual Trinity Rotary Gala Fundraiser. The couple enjoyed eighteen years of love, family, cruising, traveling and adventures. Besides the Rotary, Joan was very active in the Suncoast Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) and its Military Officers Wives Club.
She was a parishioner at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in New Port Richey.
Joan is the sister of the late Laura Sanders, Jean Gorse, Eva Murphy, Gloria Schwartz, Esther Soliwoda, and of the late Elmer, Robert, Charles, Dewey and David Bitler, step mother of the late James Murcko and sister-in-law of the late Helen Evanovich Bitler, Jean Coluccio Bitler, Elizabeth Garnich Bitler, Edward Sanders, Thomas Gorse, John Murphy, John Soliwoda, Leon Hamilton, Lt. Col. Robert Mochrie, USA (RET), Joseph Murcko, Evelyn Murcko, Richard Miller, Edith O'Conner Miller, Ronald Miller and Elaine Miller.
She is survived by her loving husband of 17 years, Gerald Miller, her brother Donald Bitler of Florida, sister Beatrice Hamilton of New Jersey and twin sister Joyce Mochrie of Florida, her twin sons and daughters-in-law, David and Christy Costanza Murcko of Tennessee and William and Alicia Koger Murcko of Florida, sisters-in-law Ethel Bitler of NJ, and Lois Bitler of VA, and Agnes Murcko Hanson of CT, step son Paul Murcko of Oklahoma, step daughters, Marlene Miller Welter and Monica Miller Weiss of Wisconsin. She also leaves her grandchildren, Tyler, Landon, and twins Luke and Abbey Murcko, step grandchildren Robby Jobman, Ryan Holdsworth, and Lauren, Olivia, Mitchel, and Nolan Welter and many nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Dobies Funeral Home at 8825 Old County Road 54, New Port Richey. Burial will be at the Bushnell National Cemetery on a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to HPH Hospice, 12107 Majestic Blvd, Hudson FL 34667 or to the Rotary Club of Trinity, PO Box 238, New Port Richey, FL 34656.