Sylvia Johnson Miller

Sylvia Annette Johnson Miller, 74, passed away peacefully, Wednesday, August 14, 2019, at Hospice Tucker House.

A worship service celebrating her life will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at Cold Springs United Methodist Church of Concord, with the Rev. Mary Hatley officiating. Her family will receive friends from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the church, prior to the service.

Born April 22, 1945, in Cabarrus County, she was the daughter of the late Garland Johnson Sr. and Ruth Irvin Johnson. She was a 1963 graduate of Hartsell High School, where she was a cheerleader and voted Miss Hartsell High. She was a homemaker and mother, and also had a career as a legal secretary.

Sylvia was a member of Cold Springs United Methodist Church. She was a wonderful mother who immensely enjoyed her home-life and family. Her hobbies in arts and crafts involved ceramics, needle point and sewing. She was especially attentive in caring for her dogs and loved to watch and feed the deer near her home. She loved Dale Earnhardt, Elvis, Tar Heel basketball, and in later years she became an ace at bingo at the Coltrane Life Center and Morningside Assisted Living.

In 1994 Sylvia was felled with a massive stroke that caused her to lose her speech. The only words she retained were “I love you.” She was still able to hug with one arm, and walk with assistance. She delighted in hugging and loving on her many friends and family and telling them she loved them. She loved everyone, and everyone loved her.

Her late husband, Wayne Fred Miller, lovingly cared for her through the end of his life in October, 2016. They were married 51 years. He always said she was the sweetest woman he'd ever met.

Sylvia was a woman of faith and she passed that faith on to her family. They believe today she is freed from the body that failed her in 1994 and that she is finally walking, even running the golden streets of heaven as she is reunited with her great love, Wayne Miller. She is talking and welcoming others into that sweet hereafter, while also searching out the late UNC Tar Heels basketball coach Dean Smith to give him a two-armed hug.

In addition to her late husband, Sylvia was also cared for and survived by her daughters, Renee M. Skey and her husband James Edward Skey Jr.; and Sonjia M. Heath and husband William Carter Heath; five grandchildren, Maya, Ava, Jackson, Harrison, and Mary Madison; two brothers, Nick Johnson and Edward “Pee Wee” Johnson, and preceded in death by her brother Garland "Junior" Johnson. She also has a great-grandchild-by-heart, Maverick Scarlett.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Coltrane Life Center, 321 Corbin Ave. SE, Concord, NC, 28025.