DON MILLER SR.

SIKESTON -- Don R. Miller Sr., 70, of Sikeston died Friday, Oct. 16, 1998, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center at Sikeston.

He was born on Aug. 10, 1928, at Sikeston, daughter of Arlen and Blanche Moody Miller.

He graduated from Diehlstadt High School in 1946.

He served in the Air Force during the Korean conflict. He was an officer for the Sikeston Police Department for several years and then worked for 10 years as a weight station officer for the Missouri Highway Patrol.

He had owned and operated D&S Electric Co. and D&S Feed and Seed Co. in Sikeston. He owned Heartland Investigating Services in Sikeston.

He was a member and deacon emeritus of the First Christian Church in Sikeston.

He began working with youth baseball in Sikeston in the 1950s and had been a commissioner of Sikeston Little League Baseball.

In the 1960s, he served as a Babe Ruth League baseball team manager and also served as district commissioner. He then moved to the Connie Mack Baseball League in 1967 where he was one of the coaches who took the Sikeston team to the Seven States West Plains Regional Tournament in Lamar, Colo.

The team won first place and advanced to the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M.

In 1968, he organized the Seven States West Plains Regional Tournament in Sikeston and was director of the tournament.

He helped form the Senior Babe Ruth League in the 1970s and served as manager and league commissioner.

He also helped form the American Legion baseball team in the mid-1970s and served as its manager until he retired in 1986.

During his 30 years of involvement in youth baseball, he helped many young men attend college on baseball scholarships.

He also did scouting work for the St. Louis Cardinals for many years.

In 1979, he began to serve on the board of directors of the Southeast Missouri Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980 and was elected president of the Hall of Fame board in 1980 and served in that position until his death.

He was inducted into the Sikeston Sports Complex Honor Board in 1992.

He married Elizabeth Arbaugh Miller on Aug. 1, 1948. She died Feb. 3, 1985.

He married Shirley Smith Davidson on Sept. 17, 1988, at Sikeston.

Survivors include his wife of the home; two sons, Don Miller Jr. and Charlie Miller, both of Sikeston; two stepsons, Allan Davidson of Sikeston and Don Davidson of Marietta, Ga.; three sisters, Margaret Joyce, Lois McRill and Linda Miller, all of Sikeston; and nine grandchildren.

Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston.

Funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the First Christian Church in Sikeston. The Rev. Ed Pangburn will officiate, with burial in Memorial Park Cemetery at Sikeston.