On August 10, beloved staff member, Heather Millar, passed away after fighting a long battle with cancer. She joined the organization in 2022 as the content senior manager on our communications team.
Heather brought a sharp wit and exceptional talent to the organization. She will be remembered as a generous and kind person, a captivating storyteller and writer, and someone whose approachable, welcoming spirit made it easy for people to connect with her.
If you have been following Washington Conservation Action’s (WCA) work, it’s likely that you’ve interacted with her writing. Heather authored or edited almost all public-facing content we publish as an organization, including researching and writing the stories in our bi-annual magazine, Convene.
Heather lived an extraordinary life. She grew up in San Francisco, hiking, skiing, backpacking, camping, and canoeing in the redwoods and the Sierras. She joined WCA after three decades as an independent journalist covering science and the environment for publications like Orion, Smithsonian, The Atlantic Monthly, Environment Yale 360, and Sierra. She’s had many adventures as a reporter: spending the night with tree-sitters in an old-growth Douglas fir forest, tramping through Panama’s cloud forests looking for endangered frogs, and following crews eradicating invasive species in the Grand Canyon, to name a few.
Heather graduated from Stanford University with a double degree in history and Asian languages and lived in Beijing and Hong Kong for two years. She lived in Seattle with her daughter, their golden retriever, and their spoiled tabby cat up to the end of her life.
WCA and the world lost an exceptional human being with her passing. Here are a few tributes from our staff members:
Heather had a special way of connecting with anyone and everyone. She was genuine, curious, and interested in other people and in learning about the world. It’s part of what made her a great journalist and writer, but her desire to know more was in her DNA. Heather was always willing to talk about any topic – mundane parts of daily life or emerging issues and challenges facing the world. Even in a large group, you felt like it was just you and Heather talking. She had a special way of making you feel like what you said mattered to her.
Heather also sought ways to make you feel good no matter what was going on in her own life. Once, I brought her a basic meal, and you would have thought that it was gourmet-level fare based on her reaction. She knew what recipe I used and said how much she loved making the same thing. It stayed with me because here she was, going through chemo and probably not feeling great, but she made sure to give energy and attention to express affection and appreciation for a simple pasta meal. It’s something I will carry with me to try and remember to lead with love.
– Darcy Nonemacher, Government Affairs Director
I vividly remember the day we interviewed Heather for the content senior manager position. From the very beginning, she was open and vulnerable, sharing stories and allowing us to see the person behind her remarkable resume. I remember being so impressed by all she had accomplished. I was honestly a little intimidated. She was way too humble about her many achievements for as long as I’ve known her, but that was Heather.
She had an extraordinary ability to find common ground with anyone, to make people feel at ease, and to share herself openly and generously with the world. She welcomed people into her home, her community, and her life with a warmth that seemed to come completely naturally to her. I have always admired that about her.
I feel lucky to have shared so many memories with Heather while working closely with her on the communications team. From our team retreats in her backyard and our trip to Centralia for Convene, to the many times she welcomed me into her home and cooked a meal for us to share, these moments mean even more to me now.
I will always remember Heather for her generosity and for the way she welcomed people in. She found connection wherever she went and made the world around her feel a little more like home.
– Aida Amirul, Digital Communications Manager
Heather was a real animal lover who liked to show attention to pets that came to the office. She had a dog, Sam, and a cat (the famous Kittyman!) at home, and was always very welcoming to my dogs, Charlie and Goldie, when we arrived in the office. She understood that Charlie is a shy dog and yet always tried to interact with him in a way he would understand (though at a distance, which was his preference). Heather also wasn’t put off, even in the slightest, by Goldie’s “in your face” friendliness. My dogs would always get some love and attention from her.
I also discovered that Heather was very good at having meaningful conversations with our donors and putting those conversations to paper. On two specific occasions, she interviewed different long-time donors of our work for articles that were published in Convene. The interviews produced excellent articles that were not only well-written, but also demonstrated that Heather had wonderful conversations with each person, resulting in stories that provided insights into our donors’ lives and why they support our work.
I will always remember Heather as a warm, interesting, and caring person who left this world way too soon.
We will miss you, Heather.
– Paul Balle, Donor Relations Director
