On July 26, 2025, Mary Elizabeth Cooper Miller departed from this life to be with God. Born in Twin Creek, Izard County, Arkansas, on January 28, 1941, she is the daughter of Lora Edna Smith Cooper and William Jefferson Cooper, Sr.
She spent her first four years of school at Lower Twin Creek, a one-room school, where she developed a lifetime interest in Ancient Egypt in the second grade.
As editor of the high school newspaper, she demonstrated her writing skills. In 1958, Mary was the valedictorian of her Melbourne High School graduating class.
In 1976, Mary earned a Master’s degree in Educational Media from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, following her graduation with an Education degree from Arkansas State Teachers College (now UCA) in Conway.
She participated actively in professional organizations while teaching and received the Association of Educational Communications and Technology’s William R. Fulton Leadership Award. Mary also served as a Parliamentarian at the National Convention of the AECT’s School Librarian Division. She has contributed articles to a number of national and state professional periodicals.
Mary received the national organization’s Best Newsletter Award while serving as the newsletter editor for the Lyon College Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
She also held positions on the Executive Boards of the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers and the Arkansas Audio Visual Association.
Her interests were genealogy, travel, sewing, gardening, reading, and handicrafts. She learned that the original settler John Lafferty, after whom Lafferty Creek and the settlement were called, was her sixth great-grandfather. In 1810, he moved to Independence County with his family. Years later, she wrote Coopers on Izard County, Arkansas, a novel about her father’s family.
On October 26, 1978, Mary and Jerry Earick Miller, Sr. were joined in marriage. They loved visiting all 50 states, parts of Canada, and parts of Europe over the years. Hawaii and Arkansas were her favorite locations. The most peculiar thing they saw was a baby whale swimming with its mother off the Big Island of Hawaii and spewing water. Mary also made excursions to England, Scotland, Ireland, and South America.
They traveled to Alaska and Yellowstone Baptist College in Billings, Montana, as members of the First Baptist Church in Batesville. They demonstrated Christian love to her students, their friends, and their families.
In addition to being a member of the United States Daughters War of 1812, Mary served as the State Librarian and State Historian of the Arkansas Society of the Daughter of the American Revolution, the State President of the Arkansas Society of the Colonial Dames XVII Century, the Vice President of the Arkansas Society of the Daughter of the American Colonists, the State Historian, the State Recorder of Military Service Awards, and the Honorary President of the Arkansas Society of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In each of these groups, she also completed work at the division, district, and chapter levels.
Mary was chosen to serve as the Registrar of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution’s Independence County Chapter in 1989. Over the years, she has assisted numerous members with their genealogy research, which has led to their approval.
Mary worked as a school librarian in elementary, junior high, and senior high schools during her time in education. In addition, she taught English to students in higher grades. In 1977, she was teaching at Jacksonville’s Homer Adkins Elementary School when the Pulaski County Special School District librarians were selected as runners-up for the American Librarian Association’s coveted Library Media Program of the Year.
Mary served as President of the Independence County Historical Society and the Batesville Genealogical Society before joining the Executive Board of the Arkansas Genealogical Society.
For thirty years, Mary was the editor of the Batesville Genealogical Society’s quarterly magazine, Bits of Bark From the Family Tree. She also volunteered for thirty-two years as the newsletter editor for the Batesville Area Civil War Round Table.
Mary fulfilled her civic responsibility by serving on the Independence County Library Board for one term and being selected as a juror.
Mary belonged to the Batesville Area Civil War Round Table, the Independence, Izard, Sharp, and Stone Counties Historical Societies, the Independence County Retired Teachers Association, and the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association.
Her work was recognized with the Arkansas Historical Association’s Best Articles award while she served as Editor of The Izard County Historian, the journal for the Izard Historical Society. The 2021 Best Church History award went to an article about the Cumberland Presbyterians in Izard County History. In 2022, the state society awarded her the Best Religious History Award for her work about the Methodists in Izard County history. During their 2023 ceremony, Mary and Russell Baker’s work on the First Church in Sharpe County, Arkansas, won a prize in the Arkansas Genealogical Society’s Best work Contest. The article was published in their Arkansas Family Historian in 2002. The Arkansas Historical Association’s 2024 Best Religious piece award went to her piece about Christian faiths in Izard County’s documented history, starting with the Jeffery family’s 1816 arrival of a Presbyterian church in Mount Olive. She won the Best Family History award for her piece about the Bean Family that appeared in the Independence County Chronicle. Mary was the only individual from this group to receive two different accolades in 2024.
Mary’s parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and a number of relatives all passed away before her.
Jerry, Mary’s spouse, is the only surviving member of the household. Two stepchildren, Anita Miller Clinard (Mark) of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Reverend Jerry E. Miller, Jr. (Adrienne) of Raleigh, North Carolina, are also survivors. Two grandchildren, Chastity Clinard of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Christopher Clinard (Shyrah) of Nashville, Tennessee. One sister, Linda Carol Cooper of Melbourne, AR, and one brother, William Jefferson Bud Cooper, Jr. of Boswell, AR. Waylan Cooper and Lyndell Cooper are two nephews. Three great-nephews, John Daigle, Will Cooper, and Caleb Cooper; numerous cousins and friends; two nieces, Regina Cooper and Elizabeth Daigle.
Jerry E. Miller, Jr. will officiate the funeral services on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at Roller-Crouch Chapel in Batesville.
On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., visitors can arrive at the funeral home prior to the service.
Chris Clinard, Kirk Miller, Farrell Miller, Jr., Jimmy Martin, and Justin Daigle will all be pallbearers. Sue Richmond, the Melbourne Class of 1958, and JW Vest will serve as honorary pallbearers.
Farrell Miller, Sr. will preside over the burial, which is scheduled for Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 9:00 am in the Melbourne Cemetery.
You can mail memorials to The Vest Cemetery Association of Boswell at 219 West Street, Melbourne, AR 72556, or to The Izard County Historical Society at P.O. Box 877, Melbourne, AR 72556.
