Sherry Stephana Miller

Sherry Stephana Baker Miller was born at Monticello, Drew County, Arkansas, on September 5, 1943, to Hettie Colvin Woods. Sherry is a native of Warren, Arkansas. There she attended the Presbyterian Church that provided the only help she and her mom had besides her Aunt Lottie, Jims grandmother Irene, and Aunt Nita (who were as poor as her mom Hedy).

Her mother made Sherry’s clothes using the material from the dresses donated to the church poor box. One time she made Sherry’s mandatory choir concert gown that was so beautiful no one else knew Sherry was wearing a bed sheet covered in net. Because money was scarce and her alcoholic stepfather drank up even that, she wasn’t allowed to do anything that cost money, such as Brownies or dance and music lessons.

Her mom was too proud to let anyone but the church know how little they had. So the church going was free and provided many activities, and Sherry did most of them. One summer the church provided a scholarship: her only camping experience at Camp Ferncliff. Even though she couldn’t carry a tune, the adult choir allowed her to sing with them when she was just in junior high. When her mother was hospitalized for almost a year, the church provided the only spending money she had until she finished the eighth grade school year while living with her cousin Jim and his grandmother.

That summer her grandfather took her by train to live with her Aunt Nita and her four children in Helena, Arkansas, until her mother could join her there. That summer she got her first job by dressing in her best clothes, then walking in and out all the stores on Cherry Street asking for a job. Halfway down Cherry Street she entered S&H Kress Dime Store. The manager gave her a math test which she aced and put her to work in the material and sewing notions section. She could figure out math material problems like what the cost would be of 3/8’s a yard at $4.59. That summer she used part of her money and bought Christmas presents for Aunt Nita, her kids, and her mother, carefully storing them in a small closet. That Christmas those were the only presents under the tree. Her mom finally joined her and got a secretarial job with Phillips County Welfare Department. Life was easier even though her stepfather joined them there, too. All through high school Sherry worked at the dime store after school and Saturdays to pay for her schoolbooks, fees, lunches, and spending money, or she would have not been able to go to high school, for Arkansas then only provided free books through the eighth grade and no free lunches. Her only school activities were those that were during the school day and were free. There she graduated with honors in 1961.

She picked U of A Monticello and financed it with a National Defense Loan for her freshman and sophomore years and arranged transportation by paying a little on gas money to friends who had cars and let her ride to and from college. Sherry always said, “Thank goodness for the Russian Sputnik that propelled the U.S. in the race for outer space and caused a need for more teachers of every kind, so the U.S. made cheap National Defense loans available to education majors, or I would not have gotten to attend college.”

She met her husband Gordon Harvey Miller the next summer at home where he was sent as an engineer in training at the Helena SES. When Harvey proposed to Sherry, she refused saying she wanted to finish her college degree. So he said, “Marry me and I’ll put you through school.” They married on January 26, 1963, and Sherry continued to go to college wherever Harvey’s job took him. She eventually graduated from the U of A, Fayetteville in 1969 with a BSE degree in English and French when their son Sean was four years old. Harvey also typed every paper for her, even through her masters plus hours and more.

She is survived by her husband Gordon Harvey Miller, her son Sean Alan Miller and his wife Lisa, her daughter Sherry Kathryn Miller and her husband Prentice Williams, and her four grandsons Matthew, Andrew, Noah, and Kade Miller. She is also survived by two great grandchildren Lylah Rose Miller and Nash Miller. All survivors, of whom she was so proud and loved so passionately, reside in the Fort Smith area.

Sherry loved teaching. Since she really wanted to be a minister, a job at that time closed to women, she chose to be a missionary to the ignorant. Her teaching internship was at Horace Mann High School in Little Rock in 1969. Another student teacher and she were the only whites at the school. During this time the Black Panthers were teaching kids how to cause riots in the classroom. Her cooperating teacher was the wonderful Vivian Hegwood who guided her through all obstacles. It was a marvelous experience. Little Sean loved going to school programs with her there. She taught at Mabelvale Jr. High and Cloverdale Jr. High in 1969-70. She resigned at Thanksgiving when ordered to bed rest until April 16, 1971, when daughter Kathy was born, just before the family moved to Russellville. Then Sherry taught at Russellville Jr. High in 1972-81, and later Lake Hamilton High School in 1981, and finally at Hot Springs High School and Middle School. Sherry held a master’s in English and certification in ESL and in secondary leadership. Chaucer’s words fit her well: “And gladly would she teach.”

She was a life member of NEA/AEA and ARTA. She served as building representative, local president, AEA/NEA delegate, chair of public relations, trainer for seven Teacher to Teacher workshops, state board member, state PACE, student ad hoc committee advisor, AEA budget committee, Government relations committee, Democratic Caucus, Women’s caucus, Peace and Justice caucus, task force on Violence in the classroom.

Besides being a dedicated teacher, Sherry was active in the community: Emblem Club, Democratic Committee of Garland County, charter member of the VCK Democratic Women’s Club, Gore delegate to the national Democratic Convention, former helper in writing the incorporating papers for Habitat for Humanity in Garland county, former Lioness Club member, former Laubach ESL tutor for The Literacy Council of Garland County, former Regional Aids Inter faith Network care team and a member and later president of the Zeta Chi chapter of Epsilon Sigma Alpha service sorority, a member of Rip Roaring Red Hats, Emblem Red Hats and birthday club, Belles and Beaux social club and Nitecappers dance club. Sherry also did pet therapy and took her toy Pomeranians Mavrik & Rocky to visit shut-ins and nursing homes, always dressing Mavrik up for his buddies: Razorback t-shirts, football, basketball and baseball jerseys, Halloween and Christmas costumes, even pajamas. When Mavrik had to take disability retirement and Rocky started growling at the attendants, she did Stephan Ministry at St. Joseph’s Hospital working in pastoral services there.

Family always came first. Then church was second. For her church was extended family because she was an only child of a single mom and the church helped raise her and educate her. Her minister J. Harold Jackson took her to visit colleges and helped her mom fill out the paperwork for college and later on did pre-marital counseling with Harvey and her. She was a member of Warren Presbyterian church as a little girl and Helena Presbyterian Church as a teenager. She always insisted that any serious boyfriend attend church with her. The ladies of the Helena Presbyterian Church did her wedding reception as a gift to her. As a young married couple she and Harvey attended Asbury Methodist Church in little Rock, and later on Wesley Methodist Church in Russellville where she was awarded life member of the Wesley Methodist Women. She was active in every area of the church saying often “I’ve done everything in the church except preach a sermon.” So she made sure the family was actively involved in Westminster Presbyterian Church where she and Harvey were elders. Later they joined First Presbyterian.

She loved travelling, dancing, playing bridge, reading, AND MOST OF ALL being with her family. Each summer she ran Nana Camp for her grandchildren, swearing them all to her Nana Camp rules. She loved being their Facebook friend too. Sherry joined the Church Triumphant on Mother’s Day, May 9th. Her ashes will be laid to rest by her mother in the columbarium at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Nana Camp Rules

I promise on my honor that:

1. I will eat all the junk food Nana buys.

2. I will tell her if we run-out or do not have my favorite junk food.

3. I will speak loudly into the ceiling light fixture so that all my jokes and flatulence may be recorded for my comedy CD.

4. I will accord the dog the due homage that kings are entitled, especially treating him gently.

5. I will not get Nana and Papa in trouble with my parents.

6. I will not repeat any dirty words from any movie watched with Nana when I return home.

7. I will abide by my parents’ rules about using the computer at home while I am using Nana’s and put all things back the way Nana had them on the computer so Papa can operate it.

8. I promise not to teach Papa any computer games or any bad habits.

9. I will not run and yell in the house.

10. I will not pee on the floor.

11. I will act like a southern gentleman at all times so that Papa can learn.

12. I will pick up my trash and clothes and put them away so the dog won’t eat them.

13. I will put my dishes on the kitchen counter and let the dog lick my hands clean.

14. I will make Nana happy because if “Nana ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

15. I will not bother Nana (she’s grouchy) until she has her second cup of coffee.

16. If the language barrier between grandparent/teenager language cannot be broken, I will call my parents to interpret.