Zane Miller Hoyt

Zane Miller Hoyt

February 25, 1929-April 18, 2026

Zane Miller Hoyt died on Saturday, April 18th, 2026, in San Diego, CA at the age of 97. Born February 25th, 1929, in Salt Lake City, UT, she was the only child of Zane Witcher Miller and Gleed Miller. She spent her early years living near her grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles in Salt Lake City, usually the only child in a group of adults. When she was twelve, her parents divorced and she moved with her mother to Berkeley, CA and later to Lafayette, CA. When her mother married Maurice Keating, she acquired four stepsiblings and when her father married Martha Ann Chapman, she suddenly had three stepsiblings around her age, John Franklin, Martha Ann and Lee. Martha Ann and Mother were the same age and lifelong friends. She attended The Katherine Branson School graduating in 1947 and attended Bennett Junior College where she received an associate degree in 1949. She married Kenneth Aitken in 1950, with whom she had four children. In 1963 she married James Mitchell Hoyt and had two more children. In 1965, they moved to Vail, CO living there for the next twenty years. Upon retirement, they moved to Lopez Island, WA, living there for thirty plus years, until the death of her husband. She moved to San Diego, CA in 2019 to be near her daughter Mary and made great new friends.

Zane loved hiking, downhill and cross-country skiing, gardening, and anything outside. She was an exceptional cook and loved making bread. She was always involved with the episcopal church, wherever she lived, making communion bread and serving on altar guilds for 70 years. She had many close friends from her childhood and school years with whom she stayed in contact with her whole life, usually through writing letters.

She is survived by her children Duncan Aitken, Zane A. Brittingham, Polly Hoyt (Peter Graef), Mary H. Conroy (Tim), her stepdaughter Kathi H. White (Joe); eleven grandchildren Zane Aitken, Layla Aitken, Whitney Brittingham, Willem Graef, August Graef, Owen Graef, Abigail Conroy, Sophie Conroy, Charlotte Conroy, Elizabeth W. Kapp (Dan), Emily W. Cooper(Andrew); six great-grandchildren Mitchell Bolton(Alissa), Ricky Wiggins, Hoyt Kapp and one great-great grandchild Brooks Bolton.

She was preceded in death by her husband, J. Mitchell Hoyt, her sons, Taggart Z. Aitken, James Mitchell Hoyt, her stepson Gerald Mitchell Hoyt and her granddaughter Molly A. Conroy.

On Saturday May 9 at 10:30 am there will be a Requiem Eucharist for Zane Hoyt, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral2728 Sixth Ave., San Diego, CA 92103. A reception will be held in the Guild Room following the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Zane’s memory to St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral WEBSITE: http://www.stpaulcathedral.org or Grace Episcopal Church 70 Sunset Lane, POB 324, Lopez Island, WA 98261 WEBSITE: www.gracelopezisland.org