Julia E. Millham

JULIA E. "Judy" MILLHAM, born arch 22, 1921 in Washington DC, to Errett J. and Claudia Covington Garst, died peacefully of congestive heart failure on Tuesday, November 8, 2005 in Nashville, TN, surrounded by her family.

Judy was preceded in death by her husband Merle P. Millham and son

Steven D. Millham. Raised in Wichita, KS, Judy had amazing musical talent from an early age - she held her first church organist

position at the age of 14. Over her long musical career she studied

and taught organ, piano and voice, privately and in public schools, and accompanied many singers, in addition to singing herself. In her later years, she took several trips to New York City for music and tours with the Metropolitan Opera Guild for opera in places such as Russia and England. She also traveled with friends down the Amazon River, making a pilgrimage to Buenos Aires to visit the church where

memorial services had been held for her son Steven when he died there during a business trip in 1981. Judy's love of music followed her to the end, as she took her last breaths during the final strains of the beautiful "Meditation" from the opera Thais.

Judy and Merle were married at Albrook Field Chapel in the Panama

Canal Zone on September 15, 1944, and over nearly 40 years of marriage lived in McComb and Findlay, Ohio, and Aiken, South Carolina. Judy loved attention to detail in all things, and also worked as a bookkeeper, partnering with Merle in their Aiken printing business, Manor Press. After Merle's death in 1984, Judy lived in Dayton, Ohio

for a few years, but returned to Aiken to live near her friends until declining health took her to Nashville, TN, to be near her

granddaughters. Judy and Merle felt that they had been given

interesting and useful lives. They thanked the Lord for wonderful

family and friends.

Judy is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Martha Mert and

Wade Adams of Houston, TX, and her granddaughters Julie Adams and

Keri Adams of Nashville, TN, and Julie's husband Richard Smith. Also surviving is Judy?s Daughter-in-Law Mary Elam Millham Rodriguez of Maple Glen, PA.

A memorial service will be held at St. John's United Methodist Church

in Aiken at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, January 30, 2006. Interment at Bethany Cemetery in Aiken, South Carolina by George Funeral Home. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Organ Fund, St. John's United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 809, Aiken SC 29802.