Gerald Joseph Miller of Fort Smith passed away May 20, 2017, at Memory Lane in Legacy Heights in Van Buren. He was born Aug 23, 1932 in Olpe, Kansas, to Leo F. Miller and Clara Elizabeth Raitinger.
He attended a country school near Olpe and then St. Joseph Catholic Schools in Olpe, where he graduated in 1950. He farmed for a year, then attended Emporia State College for a year before transferring to Kansas State University; he graduated from KSU with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1950.
He then worked for the USDA Meat Inspection Service for two years in Chicago. Gerald then transferred to Animal and Plant Health Services. He received a Masters of Public Health from Davis, CA in 1972, and completed his graduate work at Texas A&M in 1974.
In 1975, he became a member of the American Board of Veterinary Public Health. He continued his career with APHS in Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, California, Texas, Mexico, Maryland, Oklahoma and Arkansas in various positions.
He had been active in the Knights of Columbus and The Elks Lodge, as well as Christ the King, and his coffee group.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his daughter Angela Ann Miller and his sister-in-law Anna Marie Tajchman Miller.
He is survived by his wife Faye Jacob Miller, whom he married in 1968, in Omaha, Neb. He is also survived by a brother Leo Eugene Miller of Andover, Kan.; and a sister-in-law Barbara Gottschalk of Papillion, Neb.; nieces Susan Farris of Andover, Kan., Melissa Bowder (Mark) of Bellevue, Neb., Julie Lanphere of Hudson, Fla., and nephews Joe Miller (Cheryl) of Iola, Kan. and Fritz Gottschalk of Washington D.C. , and several great-nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews.
There will be a Rosary at Edwards Funeral Home Tuesday, May 23 at 6 p.m. The funeral will be at Christ the King Chapel Wednesday, May 24 at 10 a.m., with inurnment at Calvary Cemetery on Lexington.
Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. W. C. Holmes, Dr. Dana Rabideau, Joe Reznick, Paul Scott, Art Sellers, and Mike Shinn.