Suzanne Smith Miller

Suzanne Smith Miller, age 58, passed away peacefully in her home on Saturday, November 24, 2018 surrounded by her loving husband, Joey, son, Justin, and daughter, Allison. Suzanne was born on July 22, 1960 in Memphis, TN to the late Dr. James Roy Smith and Peggy (Gunter) Smith. She was an only child, so she spent her childhood growing up and playing with her cousins, Marsha, Lisa and Aprile, and Mark. She also loved going out to the farm in Hollow Rock, TN to stay with her grandmother and granddaddy, Grandma Smith and Granddaddy Marvin. She loved her childhood, and often talked of her times growing up and traveling with her mom and dad to dental conventions as well as fun annual vacations to Ft. Lauderdale beach. Suzanne attended Harding Academy in Memphis from grade school until twelfth grade, where she graduated from Harding Academy in 1978. She then went on to pursue a degree in education at the University of Memphis, back then known as Memphis State, where she joined Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and met some of her closest friends. She became a little sister of Lambda Chi fraternity during her time at Memphis state.

Suzanne then went on to meet her husband Joey Miller, who also attended Memphis State, and was employed at Federal Express as an aircraft maintenance technician, where he still works at, as a Senior Avionics Technician almost 41 years later. He and Suzanne dated for around 5 years, going out with close friends, now known as the “bunko” group to which they are still very close with today. Her bunko friends have been a close knit group for over 30 years, always trying to meet up during New Year’s Eve for the annual bunko party at the Dodson’s house. It is rare to find people nowadays who have friends from college that are still close today. She has and will always cherish those friendships.

Joey and Suzanne were married on April 11, 1987 at Union Avenue Church of Christ. She started working at 20 years old as a secretary at Methodist North Hospital in the ER at night, as well as her second day job at Memphis Orthopedic Group. After leaving the orthopedic group, she went to work as a secretary to Dr. Ed Owen with Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He was just starting out as a young cardiothoracic surgeon. She became close friends with his office, where she worked for many years.

She and Joey had their first child in 1990, Justin Patrick Miller. Suzanne loved her son so very much. Her second child came 3 years later in the spring of 1993, Allison Suzanne Miller. Suzanne stopped working after Allie was born to be a stay at home mom. She was devoted to her children and made sure their childhood was filled with fun, laughter, and great memories. The Millers grew up in a cove filled with such fun and loving neighbors. She was forever grateful to raise her children with the “cove kids” including the Swishers, Bingels, Heaters, Fourniers, Millers, Williams, Nelsons, and Moskovitz. The cove would throw the best Halloween cove parties in the neighborhood. All the kids knew to get out the way when one of the mom’s would yell, “CAR!” Suzanne was also a member of the PTA at Bartlett Elementary School, where she served on the board throughout her kids’ schooling, also serving as PTA president in 2000.

As the two kids started to grow up, they became involved in competitive baseball and dance. Many times, Justin and Joey would be off at the baseball fields, while Suzanne became the ultimate “dance mom.” She spent countless hours with Allie at dance practices at Dance Dynamics and also at recitals, competitions, conventions, etc. Some of Allison’s closest and best friends were made at dance, and Suzanne became friends with other dance moms and dads and was always a joy to be around. Our family loved to go to Margarita’s restaurant to eat and meet up with other dance families in West Memphis, AR. Suzanne would also spend her days at baseball games, traveling with Justin to fields all over the area. Countless weekends were spent outside in the blazing heat or freezing cold, where she was also deemed a “baseball mom”. She also enjoyed helping Joey with the Bartlett Baseball Booster Club’s BBQ fundraiser during Justin’s high school baseball days. It was clear to everyone that Suzanne was always there for her two kids.

As Justin and Allie became older and graduated high school, their mom would slowly transition from not only a Mother, but also a friend. Suzanne watched proudly as Justin joined the Local 614 Union as a journeyman apprentice, where he studied for 5 years and turned out as a HVAC journeyman. She watched him become the amazing man he is today, and absolutely loved helping him and his now wife, Jessica Quinn Miller plan their wedding day. It was a joyous day for her to see her only son marry the woman of his dreams. Suzanne was also so proud of her daughter Allison, go through nursing school at the U of M, where she graduated with her bachelor of science in nursing and then became a registered nurse. She was always there for her daughter during the awful nursing school days, where all she did was study and complain to her. She watched her grow from a new, scared, nurse starting out at Methodist Germantown, and would always tell everyone she talked to how proud she was of her becoming a nurse. She was so excited to see her transition into the wonderful nurse she is today at Baptist Medical Group, now a clinic/rounding nurse for Dr. Stoikes with Minimally Invasive Surgery. When Suzanne was sick, she would refer to Allie as her “private duty nurse”. She was recently so very excited about Allison’s engagement to her now fiancée, Jordan Hobbs. She made it clear to Jordan that even though she was sick and in the hospital, he needed to propose to her.

Suzanne also loved to cook endless food for the Memphis Tigers Tailgate crew, laughingly known as the “Willis-Gaters”. She loved the group so much, and tried to make it to the tailgates as much as she could. Even if she wasn’t there, her food was always there in abundance. She would always laugh when she would receive the annual “Greg’s email of the week,” discussing details of the upcoming tiger football tailgates. She will miss the tailgate friends so very much.

Suzanne was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in August of 2011. She fought valiantly against this terrible cancer for over 7 years. Many years of trying different forms of chemo and immunotherapy would work and often times fail, but Suzanne was determined that she was going to fight this disease and be present for her family no matter what. She finally stopped treatment this October due to her poor body being too tired from all of the hard medications. If you ever saw her, you would’ve never known she was even sick. Suzanne was notorious for never showing how she felt, and never wanted anyone to feel sorry for her. She was so grateful for the amazing care that was given at West Cancer Center, back then, known as West Clinic that was given to her over the past almost 8 years, especially Dr. Reed and his team, Dr. Ulm, Larissa and Rebekah. She always hoped that even if there was not a cure for her cancer, West Cancer Center would someday find a way to prevent future generations of women from this terrible diagnosis. She was hopeful that one day her mistrials with chemo and cancer progression could help West Clinic to find a way to prolong another patient’s cancer survival.

Her husband Joey would also like to thank the Fedex Avionics Line family for their thoughts and prayers during Suzanne’s long battle with cancer. He is so grateful for his coworkers’ continued support throughout this time.

Suzanne is survived by her loving husband of 31 years, Joel Patrick Miller, and her two children, Justin Patrick Miller and Allison Suzanne Miller. Suzanne will always be remembered for her bright, infectious personality and smile, and for her love for everyone. She was such a wonderful mother and wife to her family. She will be so very missed.

Her family will greet friends and loved ones at a visitation at Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 3700 N Germantown Parkway, Bartlett, TN 38133 on Tuesday, November 27, from 6:00-8:00 PM. The funeral service will be on Wednesday, November 28, at 2:00 PM at Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, with interment to follow.