Mrs. Vera Louise Miller

MILLER, Mrs. Vera Louise - Age 97, passed away Sunday, September 29, 2024 at Majestic Care of Flushing Assisted Living. Family hour 1:00 PM Monday, October 7, 2024 at Fairhaven Seventh-Day Adventist Church, with funeral service commencing at 1:30 PM. Pastor Kee'Laun Crum, officiating, Pastor Steven Bramwell, Eulogist. Family and friends will assemble at the church 1:00 PM Monday. Mrs. Miller will lie in state in the Chapel of Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home, 906 W. Flint Park Blvd., and may be viewed from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM Sunday. Vera Louise (Jones) Miller was born on August 25, 1927, in Flint, Michigan. It was fitting that this sixth of Eli and Helen Jones’ nine children would, according to the National Weather Service, be born on a clear, 74° day. Her birth would symbolize a life clearly focused on faith, family, and service to others. Her grounding in all three began in the early years of the Great Depression at the original “Flint Number 2” Church School, where she was the first kindergarten student and attended through eighth grade. Her mother and Mrs. Rosebud Miller prepared hot meals for the children to eat every day. Creative teachers, including Henry T. Saulter, used mesmerizing special effects to illustrate Bible stories, making powerful lifelong impressions on Vera and her classmates. “We were family,” Vera reminisced in an interview given earlier this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the school, which continues in operation to this day by the Fairhaven Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church. Vera went on to graduate from Mt. Morris High School in 1946, then attended Emmanuel Missionary College (now Andrews University) in Berrien Springs, Michigan, before moving to Chicago, Illinois to work and join her older sisters, Gwendolyn and Pauline. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Vera moved to Washington, D.C., joining her sister Ruby, where they attended the March on Washington in 1963. Eventually, she would work as a copy and photo editor for the Department of Defense, where she obtained a top security clearance during a critical moment in the Cold War. In addition, she began communicating regularly back to Flint with childhood friend, Carlyle Miller, widowed father of Maurice (“Butch”) and Carla. They married in suburban Washington D.C. on the night of January 27, 1973, and then returned together to Flint. Back in Michigan, Vera found joy in raising a family, and active church and community involvement. Soon, Vera was serving as Sabbath School superintendent--a position into which she put great effort since she was convinced that Sabbath observation involved both worship and study. But her true passion was community service work. She and fellow church member, Matilda Winston, took their shared commitment to another level by forming “Love Unlimited,” through which they and other church volunteers distributed clothing and other essentials from the “Love Center,” a storefront on Saginaw Street. Vera later served as Fairhaven’s Community Services Director. In that capacity, she networked with other Adventist community service programs in mid-Michigan, eventually becoming the SDA Community Services Director for the Motor City Region. Vera was also one of Fairhaven’s first female local elders and was a proud member of the King’s Daughter; a religious, social and philanthropic organization. Consistent with her life-long commitment to Christian education, Vera served as the office manager and administrator for Peterson Warren-Academy in Ecorse, Michigan, when Carlyle was named principal in the late 1970s. They later moved to Miami, Florida in 1980, where Carlyle served as principal of Miami Adventist Junior Academy. When they retired a few years later, Carlyle and Vera returned north to cold weather, desiring to be with family again despite Miami’s warmer climate. Through her early years, Vera developed her special passion and talent for sewing. It was her unique gift, and emerged as an art form that family and friends would both admire and benefit from the rest of her life. She loved to clothe herself and her family, and even taught sewing classes at church school. She designed and created stunning quilts, unique African-themed dolls, and decorative aprons. As one of her many church ministries, she created decorative pouches, which were used to hold welcoming messages, religious books and pamphlets. She went on to sew into her nineties. Vera also loved to travel both domestically and internationally, exploring the world with several of her sisters on trips to Hawaii, Spain, Greece, and Italy. And, along with her sister Lottie, enjoyed visiting Carla, while she was living in Zurich, Switzerland. Finally, Vera emphasized to Butch and Carla—and anyone else who would listen—just how much faith, family, and service can sustain you throughout life. She knew this to her core and, through her faith and the grace of God, successfully overcame cancer— twice. She served as a mentor and role model to young women who were undergoing breast cancer treatment. She provided counsel (solicited or otherwise) to family and church members as needed. She became the matriarch of the Miller and Jones families. Vera was preceded in death by husband, Carlyle; parents, Eli and Helen Jones; and siblings, Pauline Taylor, Alec Jones, Helen Friend, Gwendolyn Smith, Ruby Jones, and Sylvester Jones. Vera Louise Miller leaves to celebrate her life: children, Maurice and Carla (Kenneth Johnson); and beloved grandsons, Bryant and Ezekiel Johnson; sisters, Lottie Harris and Esther Mattox; and a host of loving nieces and nephews, spanning several generations, in both the Jones and Miller families. John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Funeral services may be viewed at: fairhavensda.org/live-stream.html.

Mrs. Vera Louise Miller

August 25, 1927 - September 29, 2024