Emma Miller

Funeral services for Mrs. Emma Louise Miller, 88, of Clarksville, Missouri, will be held at 11:00 A.M. Friday, February 20th at the Collier Funeral Home in Louisiana, Missouri. The Rev. Paul Akin will officiate. Burial will be at the Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Missouri. Visitation will be held from 4:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. Thursday, February 19th at the Collier Funeral Home in Louisiana, Missouri. Mrs. Miller died Friday, February 13, 2009 at her home near Clarksville, Missouri. She was born February 4, 1921 on the family farm in Clarksville, Missouri to Arthur and Lula Turpin Sterne. She married Robert Miller on August 30, 1947 at Clarksville, Missouri and he survives. She is also survived by one daughter, Lt. Col. Tammy L. Smeeks, U. S. Air Force, and her husband Thomas, and two granddaughters Krystina and Ahnnya Smeeks all of Tehachapi, California. She was preceded in death by one brother, Homer Sterne, who died on April 28, 2008. She attended school in Paynesville, Missouri just 7 miles south of their farm. Both she and her brother, Homer spoke of going to school in a horse and buggy, later a model T Ford, and later on a school bus. She finished high school in Louisiana, Missouri, and went on to business school at Gem City in Quincy, Illinois. She then went to work at the Draft Board in Quincy, Illinois and continued until the end of WWII. She then moved to St. Louis, Missouri and was employed by the Navy Department Bureau of Aeronautics at Mac-Donnell Aircraft Corp. at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri. During this employment she met her husband, Robert, who was an aircraft inspector with Mac-Donnell Aircraft Corp. In 1951 they decided to try farming with Emma Lou’s father which continued for 10 years. Upon deciding to return to industry, in 1961 they purchased Sunmeade, the Kenneth Paton Home Place, on the outskirts of Clarksville, Missouri. Emma Lou then took the secretary position with lawyer, Ed Glen in Louisiana, Missouri. Just before the birth of their daughter, she worked for Dr. Ed Jackson of Clarksville, Missouri until Tammy’s birth in 1962. She then took over motherhood and raised their daughter, Tammy Louise, and also loved tending her vegetable garden, and caring for their cattle on both locations of the family farm and Sunmeade. Pallbearers will be Stephen Sterne, Geoffrey Sterne, Larry Webb, Robert Scott, Dale Miller, and Randy Lovell. Music for the service will be provided by Marianna Sterne playing “Amazing Grace” and “Precious Memories”. Memorials may be given to the Pike County Home Care and Hospice in care of Collier Funeral Homes, Inc., 117 Barnard Drive, Louisiana, Missouri 63353. On-line condolences may be sent at collierfuneral.com.

Emma Miller

February 4, 1921 - February 13, 2009