Funeral Services for Gaylard Rollin Miller, Age 86 of Mansfield. Saturday, 11:00 A.M. July 5, 2025 in the Clinkingbeard Chapel with burial following in the Mt. Zion Cemetery, Ava. Visitation will take place before services at 9:30 AM
Officiating will be Rev. Ken Thompson and Rev. Nolan Bryant. Memorials may be made to Mt. Zion Bible School, Rt. 1, Box 48, Ava, MO 65608.
Born January 5, 1939 in Dallas Center, IA
Died July 2, 2025 at home in Mansfield, MO
Gaylerd was born in Dallas Center, Iowa, to Galen and Florence Miller. He was the youngest of seven children.
As a young man he attended Messiah Academy in Grantham, Pennsylvania for 2 years, then Messiah College for 2 years.
On July 5, 1958, at the age of 19, he married Marlene Knight. To this union were born four children: Samuel Mark, (Linnea) Joy, Steven Curtis, and Anita Jill.
As young pastors with small children, they were very poor financially. Gaylerd hunted for their food, and Marlene skillfully cooked all sorts of things…opossum, ground hog, squirrel, etc.
Gaylerd was a faithful servant of God and pastored many churches including Knifley, Kentucky, Dayton, Ohio, Knifley, Kentucky (Brethren in Christ). He was ordained with the Church of God (Holiness) in 1993 and pastored at Wheatland, Missouri, Fordland, Missouri and Brush Arbor, Missouri.
Gaylerd had tremendous building, plumbing, and electrical skills along with general maintenance skills. He worked at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home & Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, mowing the yard, trimming trees, and designing and building custom wooden crates for the Little House on the Prairie book set to be sold in. He provided maintenance services at Mt. Zion Bible School. In his later years, he enjoyed keeping his and the neighbors’ yards meticulously mowed.
Up until the day before he died, he was serving his neighbors and community.
Gaylerd enjoyed singing and playing guitar, teaching his children and grandchildren to love music. Often, they would sit around the living room together, playing and singing together – Marlene on the accordion, Joy at the piano, Sam at the electric keyboard. He and Marlene enjoyed Gaither Homecoming music and would listen to it or the local Christian radio. “Come to the Church in the Wildwood” was a favorite.
Visitation for will be Saturday, July 5, 2025 at 9:30 A.M. in the Clinkingbeard Chapel, Ava, Missouri.
Gaylerd is preceded in death by his parents Galen R. and Florence K. Miller; three sisters Carol Miller, June (Ray) Miller Fiscel, Betty (Peter) Miller Beni; one brother, Dale Miller; and a son, Steven Miller.
Gaylerd is survived by his wife, Marlene, of nearly 67 years; his sisters Pat Boyd of Cathedral City, California and Jody (John) Miller Boggs of Winona Lake, Indiana; three children, Samuel (Cynthia) Miller of Mansfield, Missouri, Joy Miller of Columbia, Kentucky, and Anita (Jason) Mardis of Columbia, Kentucky; 8 grandchildren, Sandra (Jon) Kreutzweiser, Laura (Justin) Schaper, Hanna (Jacob) Blair, David (Kate) Streeval, Stephanie Unfred, Stanley Miller, Wesley Miller, and Destiny Coomer; 9 great-grandchildren, Pierre Arnette, Evan and Finley Kreutzweiser, Colton, Chloe, and Cadence Schaper, Jackson Blair, Wyatt and Ganon Coomer; and a host of extended family and countless friends.
