Miles Stanley Cotham, age 74, of Nashville, Tennessee passed away on Sunday, October 24, 2021. Miles was born November 25, 1946 in Greenville, South Carolina to his parents Stanley Boyd and Margaret Esther Moreland Cotham who predecease him.
Miles was a song leader, minister and missionary for the churches of Christ for many years and was a member of Old Hickory church of Christ and former member of Una church of Christ and Pleasant Hill church of Christ.
God blessed him with a wonderful Christian family growing up. Both his mother and father were faithful members of the Lord's church when he was born in 1946 in Greenville, S.C. In 1952 his father started working at TVA in Western Ky., so they moved to the Paducah area where he lived until age 16. The entire family (two sisters as well) moved to Gallatin, TN. in 1963 where he graduated from Gallatin High School. It was here that he made the decision to attend David Lipscomb College and study for the ministry.
While at Lipscomb he preached during his junior and senior years at a small congregation called Birdwell's Chapel in Cottontown, Tennessee. Having met a brother from Malaysia in that time period, He was influenced to go to Malaysia after his B.A. work and spend two years on the mission field in Penang, Malaysia, under the oversight of a church in Calvert City, Ky. from 1968-1970. He then returned to Memphis to audit classes at HGSR for a year and worked as song director/associate minister at E. Frayser Church of Christ on a part-time basis. He also worked with an insurance company which told him of a chance to work in their Honolulu branch. He moved to Honolulu in November of 1971 and he attended the Keeaumoku St. congregation for two years.
It was while living in Hawaii that upon return to Nashville to visit his parents he met Cherry Powers, with whom he corresponded and eventually married in 1974 after moving back to Nashville in 1973 to become youth director for the Una church of Christ. He also went back to school at night to get certified in six social studies areas to teach high school. From 1975 to 2002 he taught continuously in three Christian high schools in the Nashville area. In 1980 an opportunity came open to preach with the Pleasant Hill Church of Christ, where he worked for 22 years part-time while teaching and he retired from school teaching in 2002.
In 1987 He received his Master's in history at MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN. and went on to study in the Ed. D. program at Tennessee from 1988 to 1998. In all, he completed 51 graduate hours from TSU while at the time also working with TUA to get a D.Min. degree that was granted in 1998. During the years from 1967 to 2012, God allowed him to preach the Gospel in some 18 foreign countries while having traveled in 90 nations. He spoke fluent French, which he taught in high school for 20 years, and from 2004 to 2008 he recorded 204 sermons in French with Restoration Radio as well as several English programs.
Miles is survived by his loving wife of 47 years Cherry C. Cotham, by his daughter and son in law Melia and Ryan Roller, by his grandchildren Hudson, Warner, Anne Michael and Mary Blake Roller and by his sisters and their husbands Elaine and Fred Duggan and Carolyn and John Simonetti.
A visitation for Miles will be held Thursday, October 28, 2021 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at Una Church of Christ, 1917 Old Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37217, followed by a funeral service from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM. His final resting place will be at Hermitage Memorial Gardens.
In Lieu of flowers the family has requested that memorial contributions and donations be made to the Old Hickory church of Christ Missions Fund.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.HermitageFH.com for the Cotham family.
