July 29, 1930 – July 5, 2018
Irvin Leighton Millard, MD – From his children, Roy, Mary, and Michael: Thank you. We are who we are because of our father. He gave each of us a good, solid, stable, and loving home. He loved and respected his family; and we loved and respected him in turn. His was a life lived to the fullest, with experiences we, his children, have only recently come to fully appreciate. The son of a prominent Russellville doctor, our dad graduated from UAMS, went to Southern California for his residency, and returned to Arkansas to practice the art of orthopedic medicine as a partner in the Little Rock Orthopedic Clinic. Before any of that, however, he found the woman who would become his life-long wife and partner, Sherrill Lou Millard. For sixty-six years, they loved each other, and they loved their family. Together, they provided for us, they taught us, they loved us, and they fostered in us a desire to know God and to always do what is right because it is the right thing to do. As children, we never lacked what we needed; we frequently had most of what we wanted; and our father made sure we learned the importance of knowing what was truly important in life.
Leighton is preceded in death by his wife of sixty-six years, Sherrill Lou Hooper Millard; his father, Roy I. Millard, MD; and his mother, Mildred Scott Millard.
Leighton is survived by his children, Roy Leighton Millard and his wife Judy Geisler Millard; Mary Jennifer Millard; and Michael Wayne Millard and his wife Samantha Deviney Millard; his grandchildren, David, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Samantha, Michael, Wil, Miles, Grace and Emma; his great-grandchildren, Joshua, Elijah, Samuel, Benjamin, Kathryn, Jennifer, Sariah, Charlotte, Felix, Allison, Aurora, Olivia, James, Thor and Owen.
May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the love and grace of God, rest in peace.
A memorial service will be held 11:00 am Saturday at Gross Funeral Home Chapel with Father Michael Millard officiating.
Memorials may be made to Garland County Humane Society, 1249 Ault Loop, Lonsdale, AR 72087.
