Carol D. Miller

Carol D. Miller, 89, of Snyder, died Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019 at her home.

Funeral service for Mrs. Miller will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Colonial Hill Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Hillside Memorial Gardens under the direction of Bell-Cypert-Seale Funeral Home.

Visitation will be held from 5-6 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

Carol Dean (Westbrook) Miller was born in Miles, Runnels County, on Dec. 29, 1929 to Archie Carroll Westbrook and Claire Dean (Ray) Westbrook. Carol attended public schools in several West Texas communities, including Tennyson, Robert Lee and Bronte, She graduated from Bronte High School in 1947 and started furthering her education at Mary Hardin-Baylor College. Later, she transferred to Sul Ross State College, all the time pursuing a bachelor of science degree in elementary education. Carol’s ambition throughout her childhood was to become a teacher. Even in her very early childhood days, she loved playing with her dolls as her students and her as their teacher.

Very early in her days at Sul Ross, she met Frank Miller, who pursued her relentlessly during the fall semester of 1949. The two were married in-between semesters on Jan. 22, 1950 while they were pursuing degrees in education in order to graduate in late summer of 1950.

Upon graduation, Frank was offered a teaching position at Bronte High School while Carol was hired as a reading specialist with the Blackwell school system. After one year at Blackwell, Carol was hired by Bronte’s superintendent as a reading specialist and girls’ high school coach. Carol coached volleyball, basketball and track competition.

While returning home to Tennyson from vacation during the summer of 1952, Carol and Frank passed through Snyder, where two of their college friends lived. Carol and Frank stopped to visit Bob and Joann Bell. Bob insisted that they contact the school superintendent, M.E. Stanfield, about teaching positions in the Snyder school system. As of that date, Snyder was experiencing a rapid growth in its school population. Mr. Stanfield was insistent they return for interviews. Carol and Frank were both hired — Carol as a second grade teacher at North Elementary School while Frank was employed as a math teacher at Snyder High School.

After more than eight years of marriage, a son was born, much to the delight of his parents. The son resulted as the only child with which the Millers were blessed and was given an old Miller family name that has endured since the late 1700s, that being George Givens Miller, “G.G.” for short.

Carol received many honors during her teaching career, one being elected president of the local Classroom Teachers Association, which necessitated her attendance at several state and national conventions representing Snyder public schools. She held a lifetime membership in the Texas State Teachers Association and the National Education Association. Other organizations she was a member of were Martha Ann Woman’s Club, Cosmorama and Delta Kappa Gamma, as well as ladies’ bridge clubs, both party and duplicate bridge.

She loved her students, particularly those with learning disabilities. Because of her love for this type of student, Carol chose to further her education by attending Texas Tech University, taking courses that led to her certification as an educational diagnostician. Following her certification, Carol was assigned a position where she tested and recommended proper instruction for the students who had certain learning problems. Carol held that position for several years before retiring from public education in the spring of 1990.

After public school retirement, Carol was employed as a vocational counselor at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Price Daniel Unit, where she remained for three years. After her prison counseling career, Carol did contract work as a diagnostician for some area school systems, including Coahoma and Grady.

Carol was the oldest of the three children of Archie and Claire Dean Westbrook. She was followed by a brother given the name of Adren Charles, a little better than a year younger than Carol. The last birth of the three children was that of Stanley Gilbert, who was about 10 years younger than Carol. Carol, being the oldest of the three, “raised” the younger brothers, or so she thought. Now she had two younger brothers to be her students in her “play” school.

Carol was preceded in death by her father, Archie C. Westbrook, her mother, Claire D. (Ray) Westbrook, and one younger brother, A. Charles Westbrook.

Survivors include her husband of 69 years, Frank M. Miller; one son, Dr. George G. “G.G.” Miller and his wife, Dr. Lisa J. Miller; and her three beloved grandkids, George Givens Miller Jr., Austin Daniel Miller and Meredith Carol Miller. Carol’s one remaining sibling is her younger brother, Stanley Gilbert Westrbook of Stetphenville. Many cousins, nieces and nephews, and even one aunt, Minnie Marie Hutchinson, of Orlando, Fla., survive following Carol’s departure from this earthly home to her Heavenly home to be with her God and Savior for eternity.