Lavonna Gayle Miller (née Nickelson), a dedicated dairy farmer, businessperson, loving wife, and cherished mother, passed away peacefully at the Brookdale Assisted Living Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on May 8, 2024, at the age of 78.


A memorial service to honor Gayle's life will be 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at the Strode Funeral Home Chapel in Stillwater. She will be laid to rest at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Strode Funeral Home and Cremation is in charge of the arrangements.


Born in Ripley, Oklahoma, on December 21, 1945, Gayle's life was intertwined with the small town of Ripley. From an early age, she exhibited a proficiency in school studies, especially music and mathematics. Music was a part of her soul. She played the clarinet and saxophone in the high school band, and later served as the organist for church services at both the Ripley and Stillwater Church of God.


On the dairy, Gayle was often considered the brains to her husband Randall's brawn. Instead of merely being a housewife, she worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Randall and her two sons in all aspects of the farm operation. And honestly, she probably worked twice as hard as us men, as she provided the food on our table and clean clothes on our backs. Gayle was the driving force behind the little farm's numerous awards and accolades. She succeeded in a man's world that, at the time, did not value the thoughts and skills of women. After the dairy farm was shuttered, Gayle worked at Oklahoma State University in various accounting positions to support her family.


More than anything and anyone, Gayle was dedicated to her life partner. Though they were aware of each other in the small community of Ripley, it was the influence of Randall's grandfather, Rev. Benjamin Riley Miller, that nudged the two together. They courted for two years before she coaxed a proposal out of the shy man. With nearly 60 years of blissful marriage, they were beautiful role models of how to love and respect one another.


Gayle was preceded in death by her husband, Randall Alfred Miller, who passed in August 2023, and her oldest son, Scott Randall Miller, who passed in November 2020. She is survived by her youngest son, Kyle.


As we bid farewell to Lavonna Gayle Miller, we celebrate a life well-lived and a woman deeply loved. Her legacy lives on in the lives she touched and the memories she created. Though she may no longer walk among us, her spirit will forever remain in the hearts of those who had the privilege of knowing her.

Rest in peace, dear Gayle, knowing that your legacy will endure as a beacon of love and dedication.