Ronald "Ronnie" Richard Miller, Sr.

Ronald Richard Miller, Sr. passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 15, 2025, at Baldwin Health Hospital in Foley, Alabama after a long hard fight with heart disease. Often referred to as a renaissance man, Ronnie was a basketball player and a Golden Glove heavy-weight boxer, as well as an outstanding thespian and teacher. To his family, he was a loving husband, a devoted father, and an entertaining grandfather. A person of deep faith, Ronnie incorporated his beliefs into everyday life through kindness, fairness, and integrity.

Ronnie was born in December 1944 in a log cabin in McNairy County, Tennessee, to Mildred and J. R. Miller. He spent his childhood and youth growing up in Memphis. After college, he moved to Meridian, MS to begin his teaching career. At the time of his death, he was retired and living on the river in his adopted home of Magnolia Springs, Alabama.

He is survived by his wife of 43-years, Dr. Judith Harper Miller; two children, Ronald Richard Miller, Jr., and Elizabeth Christian Miller; grandson Wyatt Preston Warren and his father James Warren of Little Rock, MS, and his granddaughter McKinley Grace Eubanks and her father Greg Eubanks of Magnolia Springs, AL. He was predeceased by his parents Mildred and J. R. Miller, his daughter Judith Leigh Miller, his in-laws Edith A. and Preston Earl Harper, and his former wife Dianne Williams Miller.

Ronnie was a veteran educator for more than 40 years in the east Mississippi area. While at Meridian Community College (MS), he served as chair of the Fine Arts Department from 1986 until his retirement in 2006. He retired a second time in 2017 as executive/artistic director of the Meridian Little Theatre. A 1962 graduate of Oakhaven High School (Memphis, TN), Ronnie held a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Mississippi College, and an M.A. in Theatre from the University of Mississippi.

An active community volunteer and supporter of the arts, Ronnie served in numerous leadership roles and on boards in Meridian, including the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, the Meridian Museum of Art, the East MS Business & Development Corporation, the Company of Angels, and Crime Stoppers. He also served on the vestry and as junior and senior warden of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. In Magnolia Springs, he also served on the vestry and as junior and senior warden of Magnolia Springs Episcopal Chapel.

Ronnie was a former two-time Golden Glove heavy-weight boxer for Tennessee and Mississippi. He also fought in the International Boxing League in St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Denver. Although Ronnie was very athletic, he had a lifetime love with the theatre. He directed over 100 plays from high school to his retirement, including all dramatic genres from classics to modern drama and musicals. He received numerous awards from Mississippi College’s Best Actor Award (1966), Meridian Community College, and The Mississippi Theatre Association (MTA). Over the years, Ronnie adjudicated MTA’s High School Theatre Festival and served as an adjudicator for the Southeastern Theatre Conference’s High School Festival. At Meridian Little Theatre, Ronnie appeared in numerous productions, including All the King’s Men, Deathtrap, and Greater Tuna. In 1978, Ronnie met his future wife Judith as they played husband and wife in the MLT production of Never Too Late; they married four years later in 1982. In 2013, Miller directed The Boys in Autumn, and the performance was selected for Best Play Award for MTA’s Community Theatre Festival. He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mississippi Arts Alliance in 2016.

His love of travel and adventure carried Judith and he to many foreign countries, across Europe and the Caribbean; their last trip was to Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Russia. He was particularly fond of spending time in St. Maarten. Until his illness, his favorite past-times were riding his Triumph Thunderbird, playing golf, spending time with his family, friends, and his ever-constant companion Yorkie Poo, Maggie Mae.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, December 13, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel, Magnolia Springs, Alabama. Interment to follow in the Chapel’s Memorial Garden. Family will receive friends following the memorial service in the Parish Hall.

In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing to Magnolia Springs Garden Club Arboretum Memorial Fund, P. O. Box 757, Magnolia Springs, AL 36555 or St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel, P. O. Box 2, Magnolia Springs, AL 36555.

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