Madeline R. & Lester E. Miller Scholarship
The Madeline R. Hickman Miller & Lester E. Miller Scholarship Fund supports graduating seniors from Tucker and Grant counties in their pursuit of higher education, with an emphasis on desire and determination rather than past extracurricular involvement.
TYPE OF FUND: Scholarship
DATE ESTABLISHED: April 2000
PURPOSE: To provide an annual scholarship, on a rotating basis, for seniors at Tucker County High School and Petersburg High School.
DISTRIBUTION: On alternating years, the Scholarship Committee of TCF will review applications from two high schools and make recommendation for the recipient to the Board of Directors of TCF. Mr. and Mrs. Miller’s family asks that the recipients not be required to have a lengthy history of school and/or community activities, particularly if those students did not have access to transportation. Emphasis should be on a desire for an education following high school.
VARIANCE POWER: If, in the judgment of the TCF Board of Directors, the restrictions and conditions of the fund become unnecessary, incapable of fulfillment or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the community, the TCF Board of Directors maintains the right to modify the terms of this fund. TCF has exclusive legal control over any contributed assets.
FUNDING: Initial funding by Thomas H. and Roberta Miller Lantz. "She was a teacher," Mrs. Miller's older daughter, Roberta Lantz, said as she initiated the fund to memorialize her mother.
BACKGROUND: Madeline Richards Hickman Miller of Arthur (Grant County) was a native of Parsons. Born April 27, 1916, she was a daughter of Stanley B. Hickman and Lena Schoonover Hickman Nesbit. Following her graduation from Parsons High School in 1933, Mrs. Miller attended Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, WV and Fairmont State College in Fairmont, WV. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Frostburg State College, Frostburg, MD. She taught for 35 years in Tucker and Grant counties and two years in Morrow, OH, ending her teaching career at Maysville Elementary School in 1978. She also worked at the Tucker County Welfare office.
She was a member of the Blackwater Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and proud of her eligibility as a descendant of Christopher Nutter, founder of Nutter Fort; Benjamin Schoonover, an early settler in Randolph County; and Sothia Hickman, a founder of Clarksburg—all veterans of the Revolutionary War. For many years Mrs. Miller was a member of St. John's Methodist Church in Parsons, and at the time of her death held membership in Main Street United Methodist Church, Petersburg.
She was survived by her husband, Lester E. Miller, to whom she was married 62 years, and a sister, Mrs. Jean Burns of Parsons. She died April 23, 1998 at Grant Memorial Hospital.
Lester E. Miller was born Feb. 24, 1914, in Erwin, WV, Preston County, the son of the late O.B. and Savilla Wotring Miller. He attended Limestone School on Limestone Mountain in Tucker County and married Madeline Hickman on April 20, 1936. A decorated WWII veteran, he served as a squad leader and platoon leader in Company E, 501st Parachute Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, during the invasion of Normandy. His honors included the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, and Silver Star.
After the war, Mr. Miller worked for the CCC, J.M. Huber Corporation, Sites’ Excavation, and Advantage Foods. He was an active member of the VFW, 4-H counselor, and an outdoor educator who emphasized firearms safety and the importance of the right to bear arms.
He cherished his time spent in Canaan Valley and Blackwater River before their development. He died February 18, 2001, at the Veterans’ Hospital in Martinsburg, WV.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller were the parents of two daughters, Mrs. Thomas (Roberta) Lantz of Petersburg and Mrs. Phyllis Vaughn Harman of Arthur, and one son, Airline Capt. Kurt L. Miller of Sandusky, OH. At the time of Mr. Miller’s death, they had nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. They were preceded in death by a grandson, Steven George Vaughn, Jr.
