Thomas Miller

Thomas “Joe” Miller passed away at home on July 3rd, 2021 after spending the last few weeks surrounded by family and friends. Last month, he celebrated his 82nd birthday.

Born in Kingsville on June 3rd, 1939 to Rufus Joe and Susan Magdala Childers Miller, his parents were already in their 40’s and 50’s. He already had two grown sisters, Anna Doris and Martha Nell, so he soon became known as “Joe Boy”. When he was quite young, the Miller family moved to Taft, where unfortunately, his father passed away when Joe was only 5-years old.

Joe and his mother moved back to Kingsville in the early 1950’s where he went on to create all kinds of school-age mischief with his friends.

After high school, he attended Texas A&I for a while. Through mutual friends, he met Eddie Sue Johnston. They soon fell in love and married on October 27th, 1961. Not long after they were married, he obeyed the Gospel of Christ, going on to serve as a Deacon in the Kingsville Church of Christ for many years. Joe continued to seek greater knowledge of the Bible to the very end of his life.

Within the first few years of marriage, Joe and Sue were blessed with 4 children: Deborah (Pat) Watkins, John Dale (Danielle) Miller, Ben (Vonda) Miller and Sarah (Kevin) Fehrenbacher. Through these kids of theirs, they now have a total of 11 grandchildren and 16.5 Great-Grandchildren!

When Joe was only about 14 years old, he went to work as a helper at the Kingsville Machine and Welding shop. He found his true profession as a Welder and at some point, broke out with his own welding rig. He spent many years working all over Texas and many other States.

Joe became known as one of the best welder’s around. Although, it must be noted that no two rig welders can actually agree who is really, really the best!

Joe’s main role in life was being Sue Miller’s husband for over 54 years. This meant that countless hours were spent building untold brackets, shelves, trailers, and other things needed to support Sue’s volunteer efforts in the Kingsville Church of Christ and many, many civic organizations at the local, State and National levels.

The Millers invite family and friends to join them in celebration of Joe’s life at the Kingsville Church of Christ building on 11th and Fordyce Streets in Kingsville Texas on Saturday July 10th at 10:00 am.