Mary Jean Miles

We mourn the passing of our Sainted Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Mary Jean Miles.

Mary Jean Miles (nee Butler) was born November 16, 1931, in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Mary Britt and Eugene Butler. They resided in Dallas, where Mr. Butler was the editor of the Southwest edition of Progressive Farmer magazine. She attended Bradfield Elementary and Highland Park High School, Southern Methodist University and Fairfax Hall in Virginia. After college, she married in 1954 and gave birth to three sons (Chuck, Doug and Wayne) and a daughter (Mary). Thus began a distinguished, lifelong career in her chosen occupation: Nurturing.

As a single parent in our formative years, Mary Jean raised us with lots of love and lots of discipline. Mom’s job, as she saw it, was to teach us, to nurture us, to guide us along the path to living moral, fulfilling lives. She approached the task with commitment, in it for the long haul. No 40-hour work week for her. She’d be up at dawn, put in a 12-hour day and then work the graveyard shift.

She was a creature of habit and routine. When we were children, we spent most of our free time outdoors, playing up and down the street with a motley band of neighborhood rascals. Mom encouraged our time in the sun and let us run free but within earshot of the silver whistle she’d blow to summon us back to the house. When the dinner whistle blew at five ‘til 6, we’d drop our bats, balls, jump ropes and run, not walk, for home. Mom had a hard and fast rule: hands washed, bottoms in seats at the table by 6 o’clock sharp. A dawdler ran the risk of a stern admonishment or, worse, the dreaded crabapple switch. More than a half-century later, right around 6, we can still hear that whistle.

She was young and beautiful, could run like a deer, climb a tree like a squirrel. On weekends, while the neighborhood dads had a cold one in front of the TV, she’d come out and play. She’d pitch batting practice, ride bikes, wrestle with us. She was the construction foreman of our fort-building projects, ensuring they were completed on spec and on time, and at the end of a long day we’d often wonder how so much fun felt like so much work.

In 1972, she married Larry Miles and welcomed two young stepdaughters into her home. They, too, soon learned to listen for the whistle and stop, drop and run. As the years passed and the children dipped their toes into adulthood, Mom and Larry traveled the U.S., discovering a mutual enchantment with the American Northwest. They purchased a small ranch above the Bitterroot River outside of Missoula, Montana, where Mom pursued her lifelong love of gardening and spent sunny days with Larry and their dogs exploring the beauty of the Bitterroot Valley. But her heart was always back in Dallas with her children and now, grandchildren.

In 1988, Mary Jean and Larry bought an Eden closer to home, an East Texas ranch with knee-buckling beauty. On Thursdays, they’d pack up their passel of Dallas dogs, pick up a grandchild or two and head to the ranch before returning home for church on Sunday. While the kids roamed the woods and swam in the lake, Mary Jean would tend to her multitude of adopted stray dogs or climb atop her faithful John Deere and cut hay. The ranch and those memories are a generational gift beyond treasure.

Her husband Larry passed in 2004, and for the last 20 years of Mom’s life, she hosted Monday night family dinners. There was no whistle required to get folks in their seats on time. We’d eat ‘til we popped, clear off the kitchen table, then get down to business — four generations shouting “Uno!” at the top of their lungs.

On May 3, 2023, Mary Jean Miles retired as a lifetime nurturer with tenure. She was gratified by her career choice and, we pray, satisfied that she accomplished most of what she set out to do. We are forever blessed by her life and love. The Lord has blown the whistle, and Mom is running home.

Mary Jean is survived by her brother, Britt Butler; her four children, Charles Lueckemeyer (Beverly), Douglas Lueckemeyer (LuAnn), Wayne and Mary Smith; her stepdaughter, Leigh Ann Jordan (Marc); 10 grandchildren; and 3 great-grandchildren.

We are endlessly grateful to Mom’s caregiver, Paula Holland.

A Celebration of Mom’s life will be held at 11 am on Thursday, May 11, at East Dallas Christian Church, 629 N. Peak St., Dallas. Reception to follow in Church parlor. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to SPCA of Texas or East Dallas Christian Church, which Mary Jean attended and cherished for more than 85 years.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Sparkman-Hillcrest.com for the Miles family.