Clara B. Miller

KALONA ? Clara Bernice Miller, 90, of Kalona, died Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, in the Pleasantview Home in Kalona.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Kalona Mennonite Church with the Rev. Scott Swartzendruber officiating. A private burial service will be held prior to the memorial service. Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m., Tuesday at the church. A memorial fund has been established for the Pleasantview Home and Kalona Mennonite Church. The Peterseim Funeral Home in Kalona is handling the arrangements.

Mrs. Miller was born Aug. 3, 1925, the fifth child of Joas S. and Magdalena (Ropp) Miller. She married Wayne W. Miller on Jan. 30, 1945.

She and her husband moved from rural Iowa City to Decatur County in southern Iowa in 1958. It was in this community that they bought a farm, raised their children and made their home for over 27 years. She acquired a love of reading at a young age, and after her children were born she decided to write her first book, drawing from her own life experiences of growing up in an Amish family. Not knowing how to type, she wrote her books out in longhand and later hired a friend to type her manuscripts. Books published were ?The Crying Heart,? ?Katie,? ?the Tender Herb? and ?To All Generations.? Even though her children were proud of her accomplishments as an author, she used to say that her children ?were more excited over a good homemade chocolate cake? than in her published books. She became active in Pen Women of Iowa and the Leon Garden Club, served on the board of the Decatur County Red Cross, attended writers conferences, and was invited many times as a public speaker to share her story on how she became an author. She and her husband enjoyed a European tour that concluded with a trip to the Holy Land in the early 1980s, and were members of Gideons International for many years. After her husband died, she attended one year of college at Eastern Mennonite University, where she took Bible classes. In 1985 she moved to Kalona and became active in the Kalona Historical Society and the Kalona Lioness Club, served as a tour guide for the Kalona Historical Society, and was a faithful member of the Kalona Mennonite Church, where she served as a Sunday school and Bible school teacher and was involved with WMSC. She wrote a monthly article titled ?It Seems to Me? in the church newsletter for several years, and served as a church elder. After she was unable to attend Kalona Mennonite Church, she continued to pray faithfully for the church, her family members and for many people in the Kalona and Wellman communities.

Surviving are six sons, Dave and wife Miriam of Riverside, Allen and wife Virginia of Osceola, Lyle and wife Jan of Spartansburg, Pennsylvania, Lloyd and wife Jane of Kidron, Ohio, Galen and wife Jeanette of Kidron, Ohio, and Phil and wife Linda of Indianola; three daughters, Judy Bontrager and husband Gene of Kalona, Sue Hershberger and husband Nelson of Kalona, and Sylvia Erb and husband Gary of Wellman; 31 grandchildren; 54 great-grandchildren; three sisters, Vesta Neale of Wellman, Mary Jane Baker of Columbus, Georgia, and Ann Miller of Harrisonburg, Virginia; one brother, Richard Miller and wife Martha of Kalona; two sisters-in-law, Ruby Miller, and Ida Fern Miller, both of Kalona; and one brother-in-law, Ed Yoder of Kalona.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Wayne, on May 14, 1982; one son, John Mark; two great-granddaughters; three sisters, Fannie Miller, Lydia Miller, and Esther Yoder; two brothers, Paul H., and Alvin L. Miller; and four brothers-in-law, Levi Miller, Don Neale, Leroy Baker, and Dan Miller.