Maxine Miller

Obituary Maxine Miller

Wife, mother, teacher

 Maxine A. Duncan Miller passed away July 3, 2024, at home. She had celebrated her 101st birthday less than a month earlier, on June 7. 

 Maxine was born in Jones Co., Texas, in 1923, to Chester Allen Duncan and Pauline Byrom Duncan. However, Maxine was separated from the family home as a child, after her mother’s death. She was initially taken to McAlister, New Mexico, to live with an aunt, Betty Byrom Allison. She occasionally sang for country dances with her aunt. 

 In July, 1936, she had been 13 one month when she was placed in the New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home at Portales. While at the children’s home, she sang on the radio. Her education while there consisted of junior high, high school, and three summers at Eastern New Mexico University at Portales. She received a degree in primary education and taught in Portales three years. In 1948, she resigned to marry Thomas Henry Miller.

 Maxine married Thomas in Calvary Baptist Church in Portales, Roosevelt County, New Mexico, on June 27, 1948. The couple had two children—Larry D. Miller, who preceded his mother in death in 2009, leaving a partner, Laurel Martin, in their Santa Fe home; and Myra Beth Morgan, wife of Mark Sechrist, both of whom live in Vado, New Mexico. Husband Thomas passed away April 2, 2000. 

 Although Maxine’s mother died when she was a child of 8 or 9 years old, her father, a World War I veteran, preceded her in death in 1970. She is survived by her daughter and her husband, and one sister, Pauline Duncan Morrison, who lives in Denham Springs, Louisiana. She was also preceded in death by a younger sister, Betty Lou, who died as a child, and one brother, Gerald N. Duncan. She is survived by many cousins, nephews, and friends.

 Maxine was a devoted wife and mother. She taught school 26 years. She taught first grade 24 years; second grade, a year and a half; and half a year in South Dakota as a high school science teacher. She loved all her students but was fondest of first graders.

 Maxine was a lifetime member of the New Mexico Retired Educators Association and a member of the Chaves County Retired Educators Association for more than 26 years, since 1979. She was a member of the Senior Circle and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

 She attended Calvary Baptist Church, taught in many departments, and in later years concentrated her efforts on behalf of older women as their Bible teacher and also sang in choir as long as she could when she was younger. She also played piano for her Sunday School classes.

 She loved to read, play 42, take care of her home, and took up oil painting. Many people have her paintings in their homes. Her early retirement years were spent helping her husband in his real estate ventures as bookkeeper.

 She will be missed by family and friends. During her last decade, she had a number of caregivers from Visiting Angels and later, from Comfort Keepers, who became friends and much like family, who took her to their hearts. They will miss her, as well.

 Arrangements are under the direction of LaGrone Funeral Home, 900 S. Main St. in Roswell, where a viewing will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. on July 11. A funeral will be held at Calvary Baptist Church, 1009 W. Alameda St., at 10 a.m., Friday, July 12, with burial following at South Park Cemetery. A reception is scheduled at the church following the burial. Maxine asked that in lieu of flowers donations be made to a favorite charity.