Funeral services for the late Sister Katie McMillian will be held on Sunday, March 3, 2019 at 2:00 pm at Progressive Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, Denmark, SC.  Interment will follow at Bamberg Memory Gardens, Bamberg, SC.
Viewing for the public will be held on Saturday from 12:00- 6:00 pm at the funeral home.


Sister Katie Myrtle Dillard McMillian was born February 25, 1933 in Luverne, Alabama and departed this life February 27, 2019 at the Laurel Crest Retirement Community in West Columbia, South Carolina. Sister McMillian was the second child and first daughter born to the late Deacon Julius and Laura Bruner Dillard. She spent her early days in the red clay of Alabama where she was educated in the Crenshaw County schools. She was a hard worker both in and outside of school. She often started the school year late because she helped her family pick cotton. However, she did so with a determination to pick more than her peers, developing a work ethic she would later instill in her children.

Sister McMillian graduated from Crenshaw County Training School and was the first of her siblings to leave the farm. She attended Lomax-Hannon Junior College in Greenville, Alabama and Alabama A&M University in Normal, Alabama where she majored in Home Economics. While there, she met Alfred Sylvester McMillian of Mobile, Alabama. After completing her degree, they married in August 1959.

Sister McMillian began her career as a Home Economics teacher in her hometown of Luverne, Alabama. Her husband found employment at the South Carolina Area Trade School in Denmark, South Carolina, which is now Denmark Technical College. She took a one year leave of absence from her Home Economics teaching position and moved to Denmark. Over the span of the next two years, Sister McMillian moved back to Alabama to continue teaching Home Economics. She returned to teach Commercial Sewing at Denmark Technical College. She remained at Denmark Technical College for seven years until the birth of her youngest child.

Alfred and Katie McMillian were blessed with three wonderful children: Alfreda Lauree McMillian Jamison, Elder Alvin Sylvester McMillian, and Rose Esther McMillian Jenkins. Their children have made them very proud, demonstrating a strong work ethic in education, software development, and technology. Granddaddy and Grandmother, as they were affectionately known, were also blessed with four beautiful granddaughters: Lamaria Bryana Jamison of Los Angeles, California, Lauryn Clarice Jamison of Aiken, South Carolina, Katie McMillian Jamison (Grandmother's namesake), and Michaela Danielle Jenkins of Greenville, South Carolina.

After staying home for three years, Sister McMillian was employed as a Bamberg County Extension Agent for Clemson University. She taught community members cooking, canning, and sewing skills. She helped many youth by involving them in 4-H programs such as public speaking, poultry, barbecue, and business. During her employment as a County Extension Agent, she earned a Master's degree from South Carolina State University. She retired from the Clemson Extension Service after working more than eighteen years.

Sister McMillian developed many talents over the years. She was a skilled seamstress and hat maker. She baked and constructed many cakes and wedding cakes, a skill she passed to her daughters and granddaughters. Among her recipes are the best lemon pound cake you will ever taste, a German-chocolate cake, a Million-dollar cake, and her brother George's favorite, a Lane cake.

A living example of a virtuous woman, Sister McMillian was an entrepreneur at heart.  She and her husband owned and operated a gas station and tree farm. She built and successfully ran a thriving mail-order earthworm business. She was also a skilled gardener and provided her household with canned and frozen goods from her home garden.  Sister McMillian had a passionate love for flowers and a green thumb with the ability to make any plant grow.

After retirement, Sister McMillian decided to become an artist!  She loved painting landscapes, but her joy was painting portraits.  She painted her loving husband and many family and church members including her current pastor, Elder William E. Smith. Sister McMillian also left her mark as an artist through a portrait of the late Sister Bessie Williams which proudly hangs at the Headquarters church in Columbia, South Carolina.

Of all Sister McMillian's life experiences, the one that meant the most to her was knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. Sister McMillian honored her promise to attend service at the Progressive Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Denmark after being invited by two of her students. When she heard the truth, she was baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ the first Sunday in September 1968 and received the Holy Ghost November 13th of the same year. Sister McMillian has been faithful in the church since that time, serving in many capacities such as Sunday School teacher, choir member, local Women's Auxiliary member, and Women's Auxiliary President. For many years, she made the church announcements and tarried with saints for the Holy Ghost. Sister McMillian also served as the National Women's Auxiliary President and as a member of the National Education Committee. She supported the work of the church in word and in deed. Sister McMillian faithfully attended Saturday morning prayer and noon day prayer during the week until she moved away from Denmark, South Carolina.

In 2012, Sister McMillian moved into a retirement community in West Columbia, South Carolina. Her priority in choosing a community was proximity to the Progressive Church. Church was her life. As her latter days brought about many health challenges, Sister McMillian continued to trust in God.  The Lord has been her sustainer throughout her affliction of Alzheimer's disease. While we cannot tell it all, just since 2012, she was delivered from a fractured vertebrae, pulmonary embolism, and a second occurence of breast cancer. The Lord has shown His hand and His miraculous healing power over and over again in her life!

Sister McMillian's husband, Alfred, and third granddaughter, Katie McMillian Jamison, preceded her in death. In addition to her children and grandchildren, she is survived by two sons-in-law, Norris Lamar Jamison of Orangeburg, South Carolina and Dr. Alfred Dwayne Jenkins of Tulsa, Oklahoma; two brothers, Jonathan Dillard and George Dillard, both of Lansing, Michigan; two brothers-in-law, James McMillian of Mobile, Alabama and Charlie Ben Turman of Lansing, Michigan; three sisters-in-law, Doris McMillion of Mobile, Alabama, Johnnie Dillard of Luverne, Alabama, and Ruby McMillian of Avondale, Pennsylvania; and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews and many others who loved her and will miss her dearly