www.MeM.com

Miller, Johnny Charles, age 56 of Knoxville, passed away Thursday May 15, 2008 at Parkwest Hospital. Mr. Miller was of the Baptist faith and a 35 yr. member of Local 917 of IUOE. Preceded in death by parents Clyde and Edith Miller, son David Miller, granddaughter Alexis Farmer, brothers James, Bill, and Ross Miller, and sister Susie. Survivors include wife Sharon Miller, sons Teddy, Mike, Johnny, Dusty, and Keith, daughters Penny, Angie, and Christy, 13 grandchildren, several brothers and sisters and a host of friends. The Miller family will receive friends Saturday from 6-9 PM. Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2 PM in the Lynnhurst-Greenwood Chapel with Rev. Fred Miller officiating. Interment will follow in the Lynnhurst Cemetery. Arrangements made by Lynnhurst-Greenwood Chapel of Berry Funeral Home, 2300 W. Adair Dr. 865-689-8888.


Johnny had great love for his family.He was a proud man.He adored his wife,children, and grandchildren,whom he was very proud of.He was a hard working man and a giver of himself in life.The love of his life was The Operating Engineers,Local 917 and being a heavy equipment operator.He loved his crane and was an excellent crane operator.Johnny also loved riding his motorcycle and had a love for old cars.

Johnny was born January 27,1952 in OakRidge,Tennessee to Clyde Hubert and Edith Mae Miller,and was the fifthteenth of seventeen children.As a small child he spent a lot of time in the hospital with asthma,which he outgrew by the age of eleven.He attended Brickey Elementary school where he said the best thing he learned was how to play chess. He spoke highly of his teacher,Mr.Fields.Johnny attended Halls Elementary too and later attended Halls High School.

Johnny developed a love for motorcycles and cars at a very early age. When he was almost thirteen years old his father bought him a moped which he had to share with his other brothers. He smiled when he spoke of the time he rode his mother to the picture show in Halls on the back of it.He said she held onto his waist so tight it hurt his stomache.

Johnny got his first car when he was fifteen years old. It was a 1955 Chevy Bellaire,2 door post with a grey primer color.He laughed as he told how he traded a record player and twelve records for it. He kept the car about eight to ten months when the motor blew as he was racing to work at Keller's Foundry.
Johnny loved to tell the story of how his moma helped him hold up the fender of a 1959 Ford while he screwed the bolts in it when he was about sixteen. His love for fast cars and bikes followed him throughout his life.


Johnny married at the age of 18.He had six children from that marriage, five boys and one daughter.He was a super Dad and enjoyed his time with them.


When he was 20 years old,Johnny was inspired to join the union.Two of his brothers were members and helped teach him to run a crane and other pieces of equipment.He enjoyed telling stories of working with them.In the early part of 1972, Johnny joined the union,Local 917:International Union of Operating Engineers.From then until the day he passed away his love for the crane remained in his heart.The first crane he ever ran on his own was in 1974. It was a 60 ton Bysyrus Errie.He was fascinated with the mechanism of it and his love for the crane intensified thru the years. He worked a lot in Oak Ridge at the nuclear plants and other jobsites.He ran all kinds of cranes in his working lifetime.His favorite was the Manitowoc.He especially enjoyed the 1930 models. He ran tower cranes,hydraulic cranes,the triple nine crane and the 4100 Manitowoc crane.He ran many cranes in his day but his favorite time was on the 4100 Manitowoc. Johnny's love for his work carried him from job to job for thirty-five years.He was a faithful member of his local and was very proud to belong to it.Johnny worked until August 2007 when he was diagnosed with lung cancer which had spread to his brain.

In 1993,Johnny met the love of his life,Sharon Monahan,who had three children from a previous marriage that Johnny grew to love as well. On November 16,1996 they were married. They
had a beautiful family life and were very happy together.As time went on, together they gained fourteen grandchildren that Pappy Johnny adored!He took time to do things with them and show them he loved them.He was very proud to be called papaw.He even shared his love for the crane with them.He would take them on his jobsite with him and let them sit in the operators seat and the kids never forgot how important they felt being on his crane.Johnny's family was very proud of him as an operator and as a man.He was more than just a husband,father,and papaw.He was the backbone of his family.

Johnny's favorite foods were pinto beans and cornbread,biscuits and gravy,fried chicken,and homemade fried pies.He drank coffee every day .

Johnny loved to go camping and he liked to fish.Many summer weekends he and Sharon loaded up the camping gear and to the lake they would go.He especially enjoyed going when some family and friends went too.He loved the campfire and the quiet times by the water.More than anything he loved being there with Sharon.A lot of laughs and good times were spent in tents,on the old boat,or in a camper.
He was happy just hanging out by the water,listening to country music and spending time with Sharon

Johnny was a man who was always ready to help anyone he could and has left behind him many precious and unforgetable memories for all of us to carry with us throughout our lives.