June Swagerty Miller

June Mignon Swagerty Miller passed away peacefully in her sleep at the A.G. Rhodes home of Emory University's Wesley Woods Methodist retirement complex in Atlanta, Georgia on February 11, 2008. She was born March 28, 1915. Mrs. Miller was predeceased by her husband of 46 years, James Howard Miller, in 1986 and her two sisters, Adeline True Swagerty Hope and Shirley Gay Swagerty Guptill. Mrs. Miller is survived by all of her six children, Reverend Douglas Howard of Hickory, NC, James Kenneth of Wildwood, MO, Paul Thomas of Nashville, TN, Karen June Rieger of Columbia, MD, Larry Christopher of Snellville, GA, and Sheryl Ann Miller of Pulaski, VA, as well as eight grand children and nine great-grandchildren. June was raised in Atlanta and went through the elementary and secondary school systems of Atlanta, attending Ella W. Smiley Elementary School, Highland School, W. A. Bass Junior High School, and graduating from Girls High School in 1928.  She attended LaGrange College for two years and graduated from Emory University in 1932 with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Divinity degrees.  June and Howard met each other at the wedding of their best friends, and they married on April 19, 1940. In 1950, Mrs. Miller was struck with the polio virus.  After months of recovery at Emory University Hospital, therapy and recuperation at Warm Springs, she recovered from polio with the permanent loss of strength primarily in her legs and she used Howard's arm or crutches for the remainder of her life.  In 1954, the family moved to Dothan, Alabama, where all of the children attended secondary schools and graduated from high school.  During this time Mrs. Miller raised six children, taught school, attained another college degree, and traveled with her husband Howard.  They were devoted members of the First United Methodist Church. A Celebration service for June Miller will be held at the A S Turner & Sons Funeral Home, 2773 North Decatur Road, Decatur, GA on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 2:00 PM.  The family requests that donations be made to the First United Methodist Church, 1380 West Main, Dothan, Alabama, 36301, "Sanctuary renovation/organ fund" in lieu of flowers. A. S. Turner & Sons