BONNIE CULLEN MILLER,

87, of Little Rock, passed away on March 8, 2021, in the early morning. She was born in Macon, Mo., on January 7, 1934, to William and Hazel Hortense Cullen and was raised in nearby La Plata with her two sisters.

During high school, Bonnie met the love of her life, Milton H. Miller, and they worked together as soda jerks at the local drugstore in La Plata. Bonnie played the sousaphone in her high school marching band and was on the high school basketball team, and she was later a devoted Razorbacks football and basketball fan.

Shortly after their marriage in 1954, Ms. Miller followed her husband overseas to Germany, where he was stationed with the U.S. Army in the town of Crailsheim. While there, Bonnie gave birth to the first of their three children, Cathy Lynn, and after their return to the United States, Cathy was joined by her siblings, Steven Milton, a child with special needs, and Ann Marie. Bonnie and Milton and their children lived in Missouri, Kansas, and Wisconsin before settling down permanently in Arkansas in the early 1970s. She spent many years with Milton at Oaklawn during the racing season and on Lake Hamilton in the summers, and was an active member of Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock.

Bonnie was a skilled and devoted homemaker. Her family could always count on her for care packages, decorating advice, summer daycare, and hot meals on a moment’s notice. She sewed innumerable outfits and costumes for her children and grandchildren, including both of her daughters’ wedding gowns in the same summer, and could paint a room better and faster than any professional. Bonnie had a sharp wit and was a good storyteller; on long road trips she used her “voice made for radio” to read tirelessly to her four grandchildren, to whom she was known very affectionately as Mema. She was the nerve center of the family, writing countless cards and keeping track of her and Milton’s many friends, neighbors, and extended relations. Bonnie also stayed abreast of local and national news and politics throughout her life, and was as fiercely loyal to her country as to her family.

Bonnie is preceded in death by her parents; her sisters, Peggy Hanley and Mary Lynn McElhinney; her husband of 58 years, Milton H. Miller; their son, Steven Milton Miller; and their grandson, James Steven Webb. She is survived by her daughters Cathy (James) Webb and Ann (Mark) Langston; her grandchildren, John Kevin Webb, Alyssa (Chandler) Watson, and Samuel Alan Langston; and her great-grandchildren, Brooks Miller Watson and Audrey June Watson.

The family wishes to thank Bonnie’s longtime, trusted personal physician, Dr. Kenneth Johnston, and also wishes to give thanks to Bonnie’s caregivers from SeniorKare and to the staff of Arkansas Hospice.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to Second Presbyterian Church, to Arkansas Hospice, or to the animal shelter of your choice. Graveside services will be held at Pinecrest Memorial Park on Monday, March 15, 2021, at 10 a.m. To sign the online guestbook, please visit www.rollerfuneralhomes.com/chenal