Pherbia Stephens, 92, passed away peacefully at home in the Henryville Community of Lawrence County, Tennessee on October 30, 2022. She was surrounded by loving family.
Pherbia was born March 25, 1930, in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, in the small community of Decoy, in Knott County. She was the oldest daughter of 14 children born to Arzanious and Laura Miller.
After attending the local one-room schoolhouse she was fortunate to go to high school at the acclaimed Hindman Settlement School as a boarding student. She cherished the memories of her years there for the rest of her life.
After graduating from high school she followed many members of her generation who left the hills of eastern Kentucky for the economic opportunities of northern Indiana. She moved to North Judson, Indiana where she took a job as secretary for Woodrow Stephens in his real estate business. Woody had moved to the area from Magoffin County, Kentucky a few years earlier. Within a year they were married on January 11, 1950. They were partners in business as well as in life, running a successful real estate business together for over 40 years. They had four children, Don, Mike, Peggy, and Eddy.
After retirement they moved back to the South, to Lawrence County, Tennessee, where two of their children had settled. Woody passed away in 1993 and Pherbia eventually settled into the home of her daughter Peggy, where she lived until her death. Her retirement years were busy and happy. She took the boundless energy and enthusiasm that made her a successful business woman and mother of a busy family and used it to better the lives of everyone around her. For several years she was an active volunteer at a domestic violence shelter. Eventually her attention turned to her lifelong passions of quilting and sewing. When she asked someone for their favorite colors, they would then be receiving a beautiful quilt in those colors. She took up sewing for the poor with ladies from the Pulaski Street Church of Christ in Lawrenceburg. They would make and ship clothing to less fortunate children. She was as generous with her time as she was with her talent and had a kind word or joke for everyone she met.
She is survived by a large and loving family. There are two brothers, Homer Miller of LaPorte, Indiana, French Miller of Daleville, Alabama, and a sister, Dulcena Tessner of Daleville. Her children and spouses are: Don (Kari) of Wasilla, Alaska, Mike (Kathy) of Jasper, Tennessee, Peggy (Gordon) Howard of Henryville, Tennessee, and Eddy (Kimi) of Santa Clarita, California. She is survived by 11 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Woody, and six brothers. Her brothers were: Grover, Elmer, Hoye, Harlan, Oran, and William Miller. Four siblings died in infancy.
She was a woman of great energy, talent, compassion, humor, and love. She lived her life to please God, serve her fellow man, and love her family. Her passing leaves a great hole in the hearts of all that knew her.
In respect to her wishes, there will be no funeral service. There will be a private family memorial gathering at a later date.
Arrangements were provided by Neal Funeral Home.
