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OBIT: Mr. Bill Miller

Mr. Bill Miller

Mr. Bill Miller of the Popes Hill Community died at the age of 84 at 8:10 p.m. Monday evening December 9, 2019 at the Quality Care Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lebanon.

Funeral services from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home were conducted by Bro. Jimmy Gregory on Thursday afternoon December 12th at 1 p.m. Burial was beside his son in the Miller family lot in the East section of the Dixon Springs Cemetery.

He was born William Houston Miller on Bowman Branch in the Riddleton Community on March 17, 1935 and was one of three children of the late Oakley Bryan “Daddy Oak” Miller who died at the age of 81 on May 6, 1980 and Flossie Elizabeth Dickerson Miller who died at the age of 67 on December 26, 1967.

His only child, Gary Houston Miller, died of a massive heart attack on May 23, 2005 at the age of 47.

After leaving the farm his first public employment was when he was hired by the late Bill Richardson who was then manager of the Smith County Farmers Cooperative when it was located in a building that burned and was located where the South Carthage City Hall now stands.

Two siblings preceded him in death, Thomas Odell Miller who died on November 12, 1919 at the age of four months and twenty nine days and Geneva Frances Miller Moss who died at the age of 94 on February 24, 2016.

Mr. Miller was a former law enforcement officer working both as a Carthage City patrolman and later as a Smith County Deputy.

In the 1960’s he was owner and operator of Mid-Town Esso Service Station located in the building in the center of Carthage on Main Street in which was later Ray’s Fruit Market.

Before relocating from Fisher Avenue in Carthage to the Tanglewood Community, he was a member of the Carthage Volunteer Fire Department and was also a member of the Smith County Rescue Squad.

For many years before retirement he was employed by Francis Whitley Construction Co. and in retirement he kept busy with his Bill Miller’s Affordable Lawn Care.

Mr. Miller was a non-denominational Christian.

Surviving are his three grandchildren, Brandon Miller and wife Christy of Murfreesboro, Bryan Miller and Tonya Moss of Lebanon, Peyton Rochelle and husband Jonathan of Lebanon; four great-grandchildren, Aubrey, Mia, and Weston Miller, and Miller Kate Rochelle; longtime companion, Ona Mai Wilkerson Reece.

The family requests memorials to the Salvation Army Christmas Programs.

SANDERSON of CARTHAGE