Jan Miller, 63, died June 9, 2019. Jan was born in Valley, Alabama on April 14, 1956. As a little girl she used to love playing “down by the creek and getting all muddy”. After graduating from Auburn in Special Ed (WAR EAGLE). She taught Special Ed in Brunswick where my sister, Shelley, also taught. I met Jan through Shelley on December 19, 1984 at 5:07 PM. We were married June 21, 1985. Thus began our great adventure: two boys, Wes (Shannon) and Adam (Hannah) later, and two grandchildren, Abel and Flora. We enjoyed family Sunday nights together almost every Sunday.
At different times she taught Sunday School to children and older adults. She became an officer in our St. Nicholas Area Preservation where she spearheaded our neighborhoods efforts during the first River Cleanup initiative. She decided an Amphitheater at Metro Park would not be good for our neighborhood or our city. She opposed it and for about 2 years a reporter from the paper or one of the television stations was at our house for her comments. She got the St. Nicholas Historical Train Station designated historical, and got it moved next to Havana Jax where she held several Christmas events. She served on CPAC and Shadco and worked on the Town Center Initiatives of the Greater Jax Plan. On Labor Day 2005 she met 21 members of a New Orleans family who had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. She found them places to live, chauffeured them to FEMA and Red Cross, insisted each get tetanus shots and when the free clinic ran out she paid for the rest out of her own pocket. There is way more to this chapter.
Then, in 2006, after a huge 8 month fight with a staph infection, she climbed out of the hospital bed to proclaim God had asked to her establish the Grace Ministry of Helping Hands. She accepted the CALL and now many many lives have been saved from hopelessness and addictions and fear. They are back into the joy of living. Although in extreme pain over the last two years due to the cancer, she, nevertheless, still met with one of her ladies at least once a day... She had accepted God’s call to be HIS Servant. She was NOT going to let cancer or pain get in the way.
Jan’s mom, Janelle, and her three brothers, still live in Valley; Paul, Chris, and David. Don’t let all this stuff fool you. Jan LOVED LIFE and lived it fully. We and our many friends had FUN, lots of FUN. We are blessed with many friends, good ones. We traveled a great deal of the world and almost all the U.S.
She was a great pianist, a good artist, scuba diver, martial artist, BUT she really loved golf with her 18 hole ladies group at San Jose (I am Greatfully Grateful for each one of you. We could not have made it this far without you. THANK YOU!)
I am blessed and honored, we all are, I think, to have shared life with this most special lady. I believe the most kind, patient, never boastful, humble, never selfish, very slow to anger (but sometimes I could get her there). Thankfully, she kept NO count of wrongs (she CHOSE to forget them). It seems there was nothing she could not face, there was no limit to her faith, her hope, her LOVE. Jan was (IS) LOVE. No matter what, when I came home from work and she heard the door slam, she came around the corner with a hug and an “I love you”. I am blessed, don’t you think? I am saying goodbye to Jan, who in my opinion is one of the all time greatest people in the entire history of peopledom. But now OUR FATHER has called Jan home: “WELCOME HOME MY GOOD and FAITHFUL SERVANT”!!!!!! But we all know: “She has JUST begun”…………………………………………………….
Services will be held at Southside Baptist Church in San Marco on Monday, June 17, 2019 at 11:00am. We hope you will join us afterward in the fellowship hall for some lunch. Jan always said, "when Baptists get together we have to eat". On Sunday a Visitation will be held at Hardage-Giddens Oaklawn Legacy Lodge, with some light food, from 3-5:00pm. In the meantime you can log onto www.hardagegiddensoaklawnchapel.com, where I have posted pictures and maybe you might want to add some thoughts. And, oh yeah, if you feel like contributing to Grace Ministry of Helpings Hands the address is: Grace Ministry, 1620 Naldo Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32207
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18