Carl B. Miles

He grew up affectionately known as Benny or Uncle Benny to his friends and family. His brother Vernon was 4 years older and was always doing something interesting, so of course Carl tried to participate. He had great times playing with his cousins that lived nearby, even though WWII had started, and Carl Sr. was deployed with the Army to the Pacific Theater in the Philippines.

Carl received a strong spiritual upbringing with a love for the Lord and a kind, gentle, patient, and positive approach to other’s struggles and trials. This is a credit to his mother Anna Marie, and to his grandparents on both sides who were pastors and spiritual leaders in their local congregations. Anna Marie helped author the weekly and monthly church publications and pastored a church in Pomona, California. Later she maintained a regular travel schedule to bring the message to outlying churches that did not have a regular pastor. This way of life instilled a sense of duty, compassion, and service to others in Carl.

In November of 1954, the family moved from Pomona, California to Guthrie, Oklahoma, so that Anna Marie could join her father Fred Pruitt and her brother Lawrence in the Faith Publishing House ministry there full-time. There was a great need as Anna Marie’s mother Mary Ann had passed in the Fall of 1954, leaving her 73-year-old father to carry on this growing ministry. This was a big change for Carl and the family, but it also opened up other opportunities to be close to his Mother’s family and to learn the printing trade.

Carl was industrious and delivered newspapers, worked other jobs, and purchased and rehabbed rental properties while working in the Faith Publishing House during High School. In the Summer months, the family would travel to several church camp meetings, but the highlight was always the National Camp Meeting in Monark Springs, Missouri, where Carl was baptized in nearby Hickory Creek as a young boy.

Carl met Berniece Eck at Monark a few years before, so the relocation allowed him to be closer to her as well, even though she was a year older and did not show much interest at that time. But Carl had fallen in love with her, so he was persistent and patient, and it eventually paid off. Over the next few years, after outlasting Berniece’s other romantic interests and winning over her parents, Carl convinced Berniece to go out on their first date. She was interested in Carl also, as she purchased fabric and sewed herself a new blue dress to wear for the event.

Carl prepared carefully as well, by cleaning and waxing his ‘57 Oldsmobile 88 that would bring them to a cafeteria in Oklahoma City near the State Capitol. Eating out was an unusual treat in those days, especially in light of the fact that Berniece’s parents had never eaten out in a restaurant until Carl and Berniece took them the first time a little while later while they were dating. This date was the first of many as it began a 2-year courtship that resulted in marriage on October 21, 1961.

Carl fixed up one of his rental houses in Guthrie, which became their first family home. On August 3, 1962, Berniece gave birth to their first son, Marvin Dale, followed by Garyld Lynn in Nov. 1963, Beverly Jan in April 1966, and Kenneth Leon in April 1971. These were busy times for the family as they had relocated to Denver, Colorado in mid-1964 so that Carl could supervise a large high-volume printing operation. Leisure times were spent with trips to the mountains, as many friends and family visited to see the expanding family, and to enjoy the outdoor activities. Their parent’s health issues caused the family to move back to Oklahoma in late 1969, first to Guthrie, then to their current home in Edmond in early 1972.

Carl was a talented and dedicated journeyman printer by trade, carrying on what his father and grandfather had done before him. Berniece was a talented baker and had started a home wedding cake and catering business after they moved back to Oklahoma. After more than 30 years in the profession, Carl stepped back from his printing work in the early 1980’s and helped Berniece open Edmond’s first bridal shop so that they could better meet the demands of her growing business with a commercial location.

During this time, he turned several of his interests into business opportunities, including beekeeping and wedding photography, which became his true work passion. He also performed bookkeeping services for other small businesses and taught his sons these skills, along with the values of honesty and integrity, and an entrepreneurial spirit mixed with hard work.

Carl always fostered a fun family life, filled with love, games, and humor. He was very skilled at dominoes, cards, and chess, so you could count on a refresh of your humility if you found yourself as his opponent. Even so, he was gracious and fun to play with or against, and you were guaranteed to have fun.

Carl was most known for his sense of humor, warm hugs, and friendly personality. He made it a point to make everyday life into special moments. His personality was always bright and would smooth over an awkward or sad moment with fun and humor.

His true passion in life was for his family, especially his grandchildren. His happiest moment was when his first granddaughter Elizabeth came along in January 1985. He celebrated each grandchild’s birth and took great joy in watching each of them grow and go through the stages of development. He frequently called Garyld or Ken to say that this or that grandchild had called and said they wanted to see Grandpa. A visit soon followed, and the grandchildren all ended up on Grandpa’s lap for extended periods of hugs, jokes, funny songs, tickling, and teasing! He always wanted to hold grandbabies whenever possible. Once, when twins Reid and Grace were born, he remarked to Berniece that they didn’t have to share holding a grandbaby since they each had one.

By necessity Carl and Berniece assumed parental guardianship of their grandchildren, Anna Marie and Tyler Christopher in 1996. This was a big life change and Carl realized he needed to be home to help Berniece with the children. So, he purchased additional equipment to expand his specialty embossing, foiling, and stamping business, that he operated out of the barn at home. This allowed Carl and Berniece to be present and provide a stable home environment over a 22-year period until Anna Marie and Tyler Christopher both married in 2018. They both thrived and brought much happiness to Carl over the years.

Carl’s life took a dramatic turn in 2003 when he suffered torn quadricep muscles in both legs. The recovery from this injury over several years, and subsequent broken arm in 2009, was never fully realized. As a result, he struggled greatly with mobility, exacerbated by the various cumulative effects of diabetes and other illnesses. He was always looking forward and was optimistic that a heart valve replacement right before Christmas in 2019 and the addition of a pacemaker in February this year would finally allow him to get back to many of his normal activities. Even though these health issues were a great trial in his life, he still maintained a sweet spirit and would offer a humorous saying or kind word to make you feel better, just when you had visited him to help cheer him up!

When Carl expanded his business in the mid-1990’s, Marvin became his business partner and investor, along with family friend Melvin Adams. This brought Marvin and his father into daily contact to accomplish business tasks as Marvin focused on operations and financials, while Carl focused on production and business development. It was a perfect business relationship and successful partnership for over 23 years and brought them closer personally as well. Marvin and Carl together made the difficult decision to close the business in mid-2019 due to their respective health issues.

Carl was a faithful father to Marvin during his cancer struggle. He liked to keep Marvin company and was always asking about the next treatment or procedure to keep Marvin looking ahead and optimistic about the future. During the long periods of recovery, Marvin and Carl had a private book club where they would each read the same book that one or the other had nominated as the next installment, then discuss the plot, character development, and where they thought the story would go next. As Marvin’s cancer became more severe, he increasingly leaned on his parents to meet his daily physical and emotional needs. They were very close, so Marvin’s illness and passing was very difficult for Carl and was an on-going trial for him until the end.

Carl is survived by his loving wife of nearly 59 years, Berniece of Edmond, Oklahoma; son Garyld and wife Sarah of McKinney, Texas; daughter Beverly Saunders of Edmond, Oklahoma; and son Kenneth and wife Camille of Frisco, Texas; grandchildren: Elizabeth and husband John Lincoln of Deer Isle, Maine; Melissa and husband Jon Sun of Vestavia Hills, Alabama; Linsey of Guymon, Oklahoma; Anna Marie of Yukon, Oklahoma; Tyler Christopher and wife Rebecca of Tyler, Texas; Garrison of Frisco, Texas, Camryn, Reid, Grace, and Carley; great-grandchildren: Quincy, Rylee, Charlotte, Wesley, Brynleigh, Jordanna, James, and Elena; and brother Vernon Miles of Guthrie, OK.

Carl was preceded in death by his parents, and his oldest son, Marvin.