Josephine Patterson Miller

        Josephine Patterson Miller, 96, passed peacefully on June 27, 2025 from natural causes. She was widely known  and loved throughout the greater Florence area.

        Jo was born March 22, 1929, in Greenville NC. She attended Salem College where she studied piano, a passion she carried with her throughout her life.  In 1949 she married Lonnie Miller and together they continued the family business, Miller’s Bootery, which provided fashionable women’s shoes and apparel to the Pee Dee area throughout the 1900s.

        She was preceded in death by her husband in 2017, and a grandson, Lawton Miller, in 2005.

        She is survived by her three children, Larry Miller (Rankin), Pat Miller Baker (David), and David Miller (Mary Ty); four grandchildren, Joanna Miller Damico (Brian), Sarah Patterson Lloyd (Edward), Brunson Miller and Tyson Miller; and five great-grandchildren.

        No one of any age was allowed to call her “Mrs. Miller.” In the days preceding her grandchildren, she was known simply as “Jo”.  With the coming of grandchildren however, she was renamed “Jojo,” and it was a perfect fit. Her door was always open and everyone was always invited.

        Above all else Jojo loved to entertain. She said it came from her childhood days on Ocracoke Island at the Pamlico Inn, her family-owned business.  Whether in Florence on Fairway Drive or at her beloved Garden City beach house, it was “the more the better.” Christmas annually provided the greatest opportunity of all.  In early December of every year, Mrs. Claus would appear.  It was all about more people,  more gifts, more food … and the most fun.

        Jojo loved to dance, and spent her teen years at Ocean Drive Beach, where she was one of the early pioneers of the Shag, so much so that it landed her on the cover of the book Shagging In The Carolinas.  Jojo also enjoyed playing her piano, needlepoint, collecting miniature lighthouses, cooking, clamming, shrimping, her family, friends, and people in general.  She was fully involved in her Garden Club and was a devoted member and former president of the Florence Assembly Ball.

        Jojo’s family cemetery on Ocracoke Island NC pays homage to Lord Alfred Tennyson and his oft quoted poem, Crossing The Bar. Each headstone there recites one of the passages. The first and third stanzas begin:

            Sunset and Evening Star

            Twilight and Evening Bell

        If there ever was an Evening Belle of the Ball, it was our entertainer, Jojo.

        You are loved and will be missed forever.

        Special thanks to the entire staff and care team at The Manor who loved and befriended Jojo for so many years.  And also to the staff at Mcleod Hospice House for their support in her final days.

        Graveside service will be held Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Mt. Hope Cemetery. Due to the expected heat, please dress appropriately – jackets optional.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Josephine Patterson Miller, please visit our floral store.