Christine Cummings Miller

Christine Cummings Miller, age 85, passed away on March 30, 2026, at her home in Hickory Valley, Tennessee.

She was born January 24, 1941, in Washington, DC, to the late Willard Lincoln Hayes and Geneva Hale Hayes.

Christine began her career as an accountant and worked for a time at National Geographic in Washington, DC. She later found her true calling in nursing, becoming a registered nurse. She served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a medical-surgical nurse with the rank of Second Lieutenant, assigned to the 100th Station Hospital. In 1991, she was scheduled to deploy in support of Operation Desert Storm, but the war ended just days before her scheduled deployment. She went on to earn a master’s degree and served as an assistant professor of nursing at Charles County Community College in Southern Maryland. She was president of the Southern Maryland chapter of the Maryland Nurses Association and also served as director of nursing at Calvert County Nursing Home.

After retiring from nursing and teaching, she returned to White County to be near her family. There, she became active in her local Methodist churches and served as secretary of the annual Hale family reunion. For decades, she conducted extensive genealogical research and developed a detailed knowledge of her family’s history in Middle Tennessee. She was a devoted wife and mother and a generous friend to all who knew her.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Rudolph Miller.

She is survived by her son, Brian Miller; her stepdaughters, Sharnel Smith-Bhatti and Robin Holmes; her stepson, Tomas Gunn; five step-grandchildren; eight step-great-grandchildren; and her sisters, Jean Rader, Geneva Hayes, and Sharon Simmons.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Frasers Chapel Cemetery Fund, 536 Butts Bridge Rd, Sparta, TN.

Arrangements: The family will receive friends at Fraser’s Chapel on Saturday, April 18, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The service will follow at 2:30 p.m., with interment at Fraser’s Chapel Cemetery.

Additionally, a memorial service will be held by her congregation at Cummingsville United Methodist Church on Saturday, April 11, at 1:00 p.m.