HORACE M. MILLER (FEBRUARY 7, 1856-APRIL 18, 1929)
AFTER A PROLONGED ILLNESS H. M. MILLER, 73 YEARS OF AGE AND ONE OF RINGGOLD COUNTY’S BEST KNOWN AND MOST HIGHLY RESPECTED CITIZENS, DIED AT HIS HOME IN SOUTH MOUNT AYR, THURSDAY MORNING. DEATH WAS NOT UNEXPECTED. MR. MILLER HAD BEEN IN ILL HEALTH FOR SEVERAL MONTHS, DURING WHICH TIME HE SPENT SEVERAL WEEKS AT THE IOWA METHODIST HOSPITAL IN DES MOINES, BUT DESPITE THE ATTENTION OF THE MOST SKILLED PHYSICIANS AND NURSES, HE CONTINUED TO DECLINE, AND WITH PERFECT RESIGNATION AND FULL POSSESSION OF THE FACULTIES OF MIND, HE APPROACHED THE END WITH UNFALTERING FAITH AND CONFIDENCE.
THE DEATH OF MR. MILLER MARKS THE PASSING OF ONE OF RINGGOLD COUNTY’S BEST CITIZENS. PROBABLY NO MAN IN THE COUNTY ENJOYED A WIDER ACQUAINTANCE OR WAS MORE HIGHLY RESPECTED THAN HE WAS. HIS ENTIRE LIFE WAS SPENT IN THE COUNTY AND HIS STERLING CHARACTER WAS RECOGNIZED AND ADMIRED BY ALL HIS ACQUAINTANCES.
THE LARGE ATTENDANCE AT THE FUNERAL WHICH WAS HELD SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE M.E. CHURCH, AND THE BEAUTIFUL FLORAL TRIBUTES, BORE TESTIMONY TO THE COMMUNITY’S APPRECIATION OF THE LIFE THAT HAD PASSED. THE FUNERAL SERVICE WAS IN CHARGE OF REV. E. S. MENOHER, PASTOR OF THE M.E. CHURCH, WHO CHOSE AS HIS TEXT THE APPROPRIATE WORDS FOUND IN II SAMUEL 3:38, “KNOW YE NOT THAT THERE IS A PRINCE AND A GREAT MAN FALLEN THIS DAY IN ISRAEL?” APPROPRIATE SONGS WERE SUNG BY A DOUBLE MIXED QUARTET AND A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE DEPARTED WAS MADE IN AN ADDRESS BY FRANK F. FULLER, WHO WAS FOR MANY YEARS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH MR. MILLER IN OFFICIAL AND BUSINESS LIFE. FOLLOWING THE SERVICES AT THE CHURCH A LONG TRAIN OF AUTOMOBILES CARRYING RELATIVES AND FRIENDS FORMED THE FUNERAL CORTEGE WHICH PASSED TO ROSE HILL CEMETERY WHERE THE BODY WAS LAID TO REST.
THE PALL BEARERS WERE THOMAS MILLER, CLAY DENNEY, JOE LINK, JOHN HOOVER, WARD HOOVER AND RALPH JENNINGS, NEPHEWS OF MR. MILLER.
THE FOLLOWING OBITUARY, PREPARED BY MR. FULLER, WAS READ BY HIM AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE:
ON THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1929 AT THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY, WHEN THE BIRDS WERE JUBILANT IN THEIR MORNING SONGS, HORACE M. MILLER PASSED FROM THIS LIFE TO THE LIFE BEYOND, AS CALMLY AND PEACEFULLY AS HE HAD ALWAYS LIVED.
HE WAS BORN NEAR LEXINGTON, ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA, FEBRUARY 7, 1856, SON OF JAMES A. AND SUSAN MILLER, WHO BROUGHT HIM WITH THEM TO RINGGOLD COUNTY WHEN A MERE CHILD, AND WHERE HE SPENT HIS ENTIRE LIFE. HE WAS THE THIRD SON OF A FAMILY OF FIFTEEN CHILDREN-SEVEN BROTHERS AND EIGHT SISTERS-JOHN W., JAMES H., HORACE M., ALEXANDER T., CHARLES T., NATHAN R., HUGH W., MRS. H. C. DENNEY, MRS. J.N. HOOVER, MRS PHIL STUDER, MRS. C. T. JENNINGS, MRS. A. L. LYNCH, MRS. E. O. HOOVER, MRS. WILL LINK, MRS. C.T. GLENDENNING-TEN OF WHOM SURVIVE HIM. THE FATHER AND MOTHER AND BROTHERS, NATHAN R., JAMES H., CHARLES T., AND SISTERS, MRS. C. T. GLENDENNING, AND MRS. WILL LINK, PRECEDED HIM IN DEATH.
HE SECURED HIS EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF RINGGOLD COUNTY AND DEVOTED HIS EARLIER LIFE TO FARMING AND STOCK RAISING. HE WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE WITH EUDORA HOOVER MARCH 27, 1884.
