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Life story

"Celebration of Life for Heather Miller, written by Heather

To write your own obituary is rather unorthodox, but you only get one shot to express a love Ietter to your friends and family at the celebration of your life, for I love each of you that is here. I’m honored that you have come to celebrate my life, and I wanted to take this unique opportunity I have been afforded to tell my life’s story in my own words.

I was born to my father, Ron Cole, and mother, Yolanda Cole, who was a native of Colchester, England, on November 25, 1969, at the Air Force Base in Little Rock, Arkansas. My mother brought a bonus brother to their marriage, Stewart Almon, and my parents then soon had my brother, Ron Cole, Jr., and then me. A blended family soon resulted after the divorce of my parents and some of the greatest gifts of my life, my bonus sisters Michaele and Tandee Hare came into my life. Our blended family with new mom, Lynn Cole, then began a series of moves due to my father’s Air Force career. I lived in 9 states by the age of 17 before making one of the wisest decisions of my life to attend Southern Nazarene University.

Here I met not only lifelong friends but my amazing husband, Todd Miller, a true gift from God. After graduating from college in this very sanctuary, we married on July 6, 1991, in the Atrium. We embarked on our life together full of travel to as many places as our vacation time would allow while pursuing careers, which for me included the insurance and pharmaceuticals industries.

Recognizing that I wanted to be a full-time mom, I left to take care of our first baby, Cole. We were then blessed with two more beautiful children, Donald and Wellesley. Through this time, I also pursued a lifelong calling to teach by obtaining a Masters of Arts degree in History. I was fortunate to pursue my passion as an adjunct professor at SNU where I had the privilege to teach hundreds of students in History. I hoped they could fall in love with History like I was, however, that was probably a tall task at the college level. No one voluntarily signs up for History if they can help it! I hope I impacted their life for Christ and inspired them to understand their world better through history.

Our family also pursued a love of travel, taking our children on vacations to experience as many new places as possible. Life experiences over accumulation of things was also one of my core beliefs, and one I wanted to instill in our family. Our life became full of entertaining people in our home, hosting dinners, holiday parties, whatever excuse I could come up with to be with people and pour into them. It’s no secret I am an extrovert! I indulged my passion for people, cooking, baking, and investing time into them.

During this time, I also took up running to support my friends, the Whitakers, in their journey to fight cancer in their son’s legacy and soon developed a close-knit group of friends who were also devoted to running. Countless half marathons and one full marathon came to a conclusion and I was thankful for all the years of health to accomplish my goals and experience them with my friends.

When we made the move into the school district to have our kids closer to their own community, I joined the Bethany Public School Board in 2011 to serve my community and was privileged to serve in this capacity for over 12 years. Bethany is such a special place and raising our children in the community allowed us to have the bonds of a small-town school while living in the amenities of a larger city. Watching and attending countless school football, basketball, and volleyball games with my kids and those of any of our school students helped to indulge my love of sports, which may or may not have led to a nickname of “Coach Miller” from my dear coaching friends.

Empty nesting started a new chapter of my life and I conceived the idea to start a travel business taking people to France. I wanted people to experience my love for France so I created itineraries for clients so they, too, could appreciate French food, culture, and history. This endeavor brought me more joy that I can describe and I want to encourage each of you here to take a chance on something that stretches you. The relationships I built with those ladies that took a chance to go with me were some of the best things I’ve experienced and some the most fulfilling and joyful times in my life. God allowed me to use my talents to spread joy.

More importantly than anything else, through all the fun seasons and difficult ones, in which there were many successes and failures, I recognized a need to draw closer to the Lord and know his Word intimately for myself. I began to read the Bible over and over again and found I was so in love with the Word. I also was surrounded by the most beautiful women who were also seeking the Lord. There is no substitute for genuine Christian community. Our bonds are almost indescribable. God is so good and faithful to reward our journey to him. As time has gone by and the advent of electronic media has progressed, I also saw people rely on podcasts and videos as almost a substitute for reading the Bible. I would encourage you to know the Word of God intimately for yourself and to not rely on other means alone. God transforms through his Word and prayer and we each desperately need the Savior to change us so we can impact our world in a genuine way that reflects the true heart of Christ.

My life has been rewarding and full and I’ve been blessed by each of you. Thank you for the investments you have made in me and my family. To my family, I love you. My children, along with my daughters-in-law who were the greatest gifts to me, and my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, in-laws, cousins, nieces, and nephews. My husband, Todd, has been such a rock and support through our entire marriage and God provided just who I needed to share life with me. I cling to “In Christ Alone,” no guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. May you know Christ and peace. I love you.

Heather will be waiting for her family in heaven who survives her: husband, Todd; son, Cole and daughter in-law Isabella; son, Donald and daughter in-law, Brooke; and daughter Wellesley; parents, Ron Sr. and Lynn Cole; brother, Ron Cole Jr.; sister, Michaele and brother in-law, Mike Haddock; sister, Tandee and brother in-law, Rodney Scott; her extended family: aunts, Pat Gallat, Dr. Linda Cole (wife, Carol), Teresa Worthington (husband, Harold), Elaine Sons (husband, Kenny), and Missy Ring (husband, Tony); cousins, Steve Gallat (wife, Kelly), JJ Cole (wife, Mindy), Liberty Malenich (husband, Greg), Nikki Kappesser (husband, Ben), Megan Cole, Miranda Schmidt (Bill), Courtney Shannon (husband, Chuck), KJ Sons (wife, Rachel), Clayton Ring (wife, Staci), Ethan Tolin (wife, Randell), and Taylor Ayers (husband, Chad).

Heather was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Bill and Lois Cole; half-brother, Stewart Almon; uncle, Rudy Gallat; cousin, Tracy Hopper; and cousin, Kyla Kelley.

Viewing at Mercer-Adams is Wednesday 7th, 12-8pm with family present from 6-8pm. Heather’s Celebration of Life service will be held on Thursday, May 8th, 12pm, at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene with interment to follow in Rose Hill Burial Park.
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