Judith Ann Bower Miller, better known as “Judi,” age 67 of Jefferson, N.C., passed away Sunday morning at her residence.

Funeral services were held Wednesday at Boone Family Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Steve Goss officiating. Burial followed in the Bower-Colvard Cemetery.
Miller was born in Radford to the late Paul Bower and Pauline Pritchard Bower. She was Miss Ashe County in 1962. Judi graduated from Appalachian State University; later she received her masters and doctoral degrees from George Mason University and Virginia Tech. She was an elementary school teacher in Fairfax.

She had a love for animals and a passion for teaching children to read.

She is survived by her husband, Howard Miller, of 39 years of marriage; her mother, Pauline Bower, of Jefferson, N.C.; three brothers, John Bower and wife, Kathy, of Jefferson, N.C., Mark Bower and wife, Sandi, of West Jefferson, N.C., and Tom Bower and wife, Sylvia, of Tyrone, Ga.; two sisters, Bennett Darnell and husband, Phil, of Jefferson, N.C., and Jenny Johnson and husband, Greg, of Jefferson, N.C.; several nieces and nephews also survive.

Flowers accepted or memorials may be made to High Country Health Care Hospice, P.O. Box 421, Jefferson, NC 28640 or mercymedical.org, P.O. Box 1940, Manassas, VA 20108-0804.

Condolences may be offered at boonefuneralhome.com.