Mary Ellen Testerman Miller, age 94, passed away on December 27, 2025, at the Blake Caring Center in Elgin, South Carolina.
Mary was born November 8, 1931, in Kansas City, Missouri, daughter of Everett Monroe Testerman and Emma Faye Huffman.
Most of her early years were spent in Jasper, Missouri, until the early 1940’s when the family moved to Bakersfield, California during the war years. While in Bakersfield, she and her mother were profoundly impacted when her father was drafted into the US Army at the age of 35. Her father fought in Italy during the Second World War. Following his return from fighting overseas the family returned to Jasper, Missouri.
Mary graduated from Jasper High School where she was class valedictorian and went on to attend what is today Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. She majored in music and composed music for an entire orchestra.
Mary married the love of her life, Melvin Joe Miller, on June 1, 1951, in Fort Riley, Kansas. After his service, they moved to Kansas City, where they lived until they moved to South Carolina in 2011. She supported her husband’s career, her two son’s activities in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, sports and other school extracurricular activities. She loved music, travel, and art.
She developed a passion for genealogy while raising her two sons. Her genealogical research was able to trace her family legacy back more than 30 generations to the royal family of Scotland. Mary went on to serve as both state and local officer in the DAR, the Colonial Dames of America and the Barons of the Magna Carta.
She is survived by her son, John Miller (Patty) of Fayette, Missouri, and her son Paul Allen Miller (Ann) of Columbia, South Carolina. She is also survived by two grandsons, Denver Miller of Marshfield, Missouri and Sam Poling-Miller of Atlanta, Georgia, along with four great-grandsons.
A private inurnment will be held at Paradise Cemetery in Jasper, Missouri at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.
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