Oklahoma City, OK
Karl Edward Miller, Jr., born September 6, 1940 in Oklahoma City, OK passed away peacefully in his home on August 17, 2024 after a brief illness of cancer.
Karl attended Capitol Hill High School, Oklahoma City and joined the Navy once he turned 18 years old. He served in the Navy on the USS Ticonderoga aircraft carrier from 1959 to 1962 and was deployed on three nine-month cruises to the Philippines and Japan. During his Naval service, Karl and Wilmetta Calhoun of Oklahoma City eloped to Poteau, OK and were married on March 23,1959 while he was home on military boot leave. They grew up together attending Harmony Hill Tabernacle church where his grandmother Princie Bell Smith taught them Sunday school. In 1972, they moved to Choctaw, OK where they resided for the next 47 years while raising their family and attending Union Grove Pentecostal Church. This year, they celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.
A very patriotic man, he loved American flags and majestic eagles symbolizing our nation’s freedom. He loved country & western music, OU and Dallas Cowboys football games, Bar-B-Q, fireworks on the Fourth of July and his dog, Stanley. A press operator by trade, Karl managed the printing department at TG&Y stores for 20 years and retired from the Mercy Hospital printing department.
Karl is survived by his spouse Wilmetta Miller, daughter Karla Stinnett and spouse Tom, son Stephen Miller, daughter LaDonna Miller and partner Terri, granddaughters Jarla Carter and spouse Megan, Karissa O’Shields and spouse Kevin, grandson Luke Bradshaw, great granddaughters Betty and Georgia O’Shields and great grandson Luca Carter; and his sister Karyn Roat and nephews D.J. Cantrell, Shane Alexander and Keyth Howry – all of the Greater Oklahoma City area.
He is preceded in death by his parents Karl E. Miller, Sr. and Mabel Roate, grandmother Princie Bell Smith, uncle Leonard Smith, Sr. and aunt Helen Smith, and cousin Leonard Smith, Jr.
For the past two years, he has been a resident at Bellevue Health & Rehab Center where he received wonderful care from the doctors and staff, especially caregivers Alfonso, KeeKee, Annie, and Pou. The family extends appreciation to Lydia at Life Care Hospice who assisted in his transition to his eternal home.
