Mary Phyllis Miller

Mary Phyllis Miller passed away peacefully in her sleep Thursday, May 22, 2014, at her home at Colonial Hill Retirement Center. Phyl was a long time resident of Johnson City, having been the widow of Dr. Walter Rutledge Miller, a native of Johnson City. Phyl was born on March 2, 1917, in Roanoke, Virginia, where she graduated from Jefferson High School in 1934. She worked at Grace Hospital in Welch, West Virginia until she married Milton Boyd Crisp on July 23, 1941. During World War II, she lived in various places including Georgia and California, and returned to Welch after the war, where her husband and his father were in the lumber business. She and Milt moved in 1962 to Roanoke, where he predeceased her in 1965. She married Rutledge Miller in 1968, when she moved to Johnson City where Rutledge was in medical practice. She was a long time member of The Fortnightly Book Club, The Johnson City Country Club, St. Johns Episcopal Church, and numerous other organizations in Johnson City. She and Rutledge had a home in Blowing Rock, North Carolina for more than 25 years, a place where both loved spending time, and where they enjoyed the Blowing Rock Country Club for a number of years. Phyl had a gift of bringing joy to whomever she encountered, was always positive and upbeat, never met a stranger, and spread happiness wherever she went. She was a wonderful wife to two husbands, a loving and caring mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and will be sorely missed. In addition to her parents and husbands, Phyl was preceded in death by her sister, Betty Lee Snead and brother-in-law Warren L. Snead, Sr. of Greeneville, Tennessee. Survivors include her son, Doug Crisp of Charlotte, North Carolina, her daughter, Dr. Susan Crisp of Columbus, Ohio, two stepsons, Jim Miller of Asheville, North Carolina and Marc Miller of Maryville, Tennessee, two stepdaughters, Rowena Davison and Beckee Schnurr, both of Atlanta, Georgia, four grandchildren, Jennifer Mathis and Andy Crisp, both of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Justin and Mary Birchard, both of New York City, and three great-grandchildren, Grace and Owen Mathis and Anna Kate Crisp, all of Charlotte, North Carolina. The family will receive friends at Colonial Hill Retirement Center, 3207 Bristol Highway, immediately after the memorial service to be held at St. Johns Episcopal Church on Roan Street at 11:00 AM Wednesday, May 28, 2014. The family requests memorial contributions be made to St. Johns Episcopal Church, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, or Grandfather Home for Children.