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Miller, John Clarence (1895-1972)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1972 Aug 24 p. 5
Birth date: 1895
text of obituary:
CHESAPEAKE, VA. — A 77-year-old substitute mail carrier was shot to death on Aug. 9 while stopped along his Fentress Road rural route near here. A 16-year-old Negro youth has been apprehended and charged with murder in the killing.
Funeral services for John Clarence Miller, a resident of this area since 1900 and a rural carrier or substitute for 20 years, were held Saturday afternoon, Aug. 12 at Mt. Pleasant Mennonite Church. Rev. A. D. Wenger and Rev. Phillip E. Miller officiated. Postmaster E. Trigg Harrison and all 30 carriers and employees of the local postoffice attended the services.
Mr. Miller was widely known in the community because of his work as a rural carrier and also as an agent for Goodville Mutual Casualty Co., Goodville Pa. At the time of his death he was serving as a representative for the Virginia Mennonite Aid Plan. He taught a Sunday school class for many years.
Survivors include his widow, the former Carrie King; a brother, Ernest H. Miller, and a sister, Mrs. Clayton Bergey, both of Chesapeake.
THE FATAL SHOOTING occurred shortly before noon in a partly wooded area near Great Bridge and was witnessed by two youngsters 14, and eight years of age, who were standing by the road waiting for the mail delivery. They said the saw Miller stop his green marked car and talk to a Negro man wearing a green shirt.
The youngsters ran to tell their mother who notified police and then went to Miller's car and moved it to the driveway of her home. Miller was dead on arrival at Norfolk General Hospital.
CHESAPEAKE police were assisted by postal investigators in apprehending the 16-year-old suspect. He was arrested at his house in Fentress on Thursday evening. Investigation showed that two shots were fired, one hitting Miller in the right cheek and the other missing its mark. A revolver believed used in the killing as well as the two bullets have been found.
It is believed robbery was the motive in the slaying, as a completed money order blank was found in the car. The regular carrier on the route reported that the previous day he had been stopped at about the same location by an unidentified man who asked him to fill out a money order, but he refused and drove away.