Woodward County Obituary
Elmwood Cemetery

© Billings Funeral Home
WOODWARD, WOODWARD CO, OK
(permission granted)
Submitted by: Ann Weber

ELMA MILLER

13 Nov 1930 - 9 May 2014

Visitation: 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM Monday, May 12th, 2014 - Billings Funeral Home

Funeral: 10:30 AM Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 - First Assembly of God Church-Woodward

Elma Clara Miller, former resident of Woodward, died Friday May 9th, 2014 at Emeritus at Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 AM Tuesday 13th at the First Assembly of God Church where the Reverend Ted Barker will be conducting the service. Burial will be in the Elmwood Cemetery.

Elma Clara Miller was born November 13, 1930 to Knox Pipkin and Ocie King Pipkin in Ochiltree County, Texas. She attended a one-room schoolhouse near the family farm until it closed then graduated from Spearman High School. On May 27th, 1951, Elma was married to Gale E. Miller in Spearman, Texas.

Gale and Elma went into full-time ministry. They traveled with other ministers with Gale being the Campaign Manager, tent manager and song leader and Elma the pianist and organist. Later they purchased their own tent and had mostly tent revivals. They traveled from Oklahoma to Arkansas, Alabama and back to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for the winter. They also had tent revivals in South Dakota. The traveling they did was the happiest time of their lives. Gale and Elma’s pastored their first church at Range, Oklahoma and then moved to Kansas where they pastored a church in Meade for two years. They lived in Baxter Springs, Kansas, for the next three years and then moved to Houston, Texas, where they lived for five years. Then they went into Sunday School Training and Christian Education in Spearman, Texas, for two years. They were pastors for three years at Lexington, Texas, before moving to Woodward in November of 1973. They pastored the Apostolic Faith Church in Woodward for over twelve years.

From an early age Elma possessed an unusual gift of music. She became the main piano player at her family’s church at the age of 10. Another of her musical talents included the unusual act of playing the piano and coronet at the same time. Her humor and music were displayed in her rendition of piano styles through the ages. For nearly 30 years, Elma owned and operated the “Family Hair Center,” a beauty shop in Woodward, OK. After that she continued to be very active in gospel music as a pianist/organist and performed at countless local musical events.

Survivors include her sons Edward Miller of Tulsa, OK; Gary Miller and wife Miryam of Austin, TX; five grandchildren, Lauren Fisher of Tulsa, OK; Austin Miller of Tulsa, OK; Brooke Harris of Tulsa, OK; Travis Miller of Austin, TX; and Miryam Scarlett Miller of Austin, TX.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband Gale, her brothers John Pipkin, J.W. Pipkin, and George Pipkin, sisters Sena Burrow, Edith Smith, Ouida Wilson, Betty Graves, and Malolah Fullbright.