MILLER

Marion Elaine Miller, 1943-2024

On December 4th, Marion Elaine Miller, née Patterson, 81, of Menlo, GA, passed away peacefully in Legends of Colorado Springs, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Elaine was born on January 15, 1943 in Trion, GA to Maxine Patterson, née Phillips, and Horace G. Patterson. She attended Summerville High School, Class of ’61, where she excelled in academic courses as well as varsity cheerleading and basketball.

In November, 1969, Elaine married Armuchee, GA native Emmett Wayne Miller, aka “Schlitz”, also a Summerville H.S. graduate as well as U.S. Marine Corp Vietnam veteran. Emmett was about to embark on a storied career with the CIA. A year later, Elaine joined the CIA ranks at Edwards AFB, where they both supported the U2 and SR-71 spy plane projects. Thus began an almost 30-year joint career that would take them to posts in northern Virginia, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Germany, and England.

Upon retirement in 1997, the couple returned to Chattooga County, where they renovated an old farmhouse in Menlo and spent years traveling and working overseas as U.S. government contractors in embassies, consulates, and other high-security areas.

Elaine was preceded in death by husband, Emmett, who passed on November, 18, 2022, and parents Horace and Maxine Patterson, brothers Hall and Glenn Patterson, sister-in-law Doris Dover Patterson, aunt Martha Taylor, uncles Tom, Watson, Dempsey, and Pharaday Phillips, and cousin, Reba Phillips.

Surviving family members include son Barry and his children Skye, Rowan, and Kenna Cusack Miller, son Emmett and daughter-in-law Nora Miller and their children Joshua and Rylee Miller, sister-in-law Linda Hughes Patterson, nephews Michael and David Patterson and their children Autumn, Heather, and Jerison Patterson, and niece Nicole Patterson and her children Autumn, John, and Gracie Patterson.

Remembrance at Earle Rainwater Funeral Home Dates to be announced.