Maj. Shana Renee Miller (United States Air Force (USAF), Retired), 47, passed away Thursday, April 23, 2026, at her home in Knoxville, TN.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Eldridge “Tommy” Thomas Jr. and Judy Needre, and by her grandparents, Col. Eldridge and Kathleen Thomas and Jimmy and Helen Oliveras.
Born in Newport News, VA, Maj. Miller came of age in Pierce County, where she graduated from Pierce County High School in 1996. After graduating, she enlisted in the United States Air Force. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of New Mexico in 2005 and soon thereafter became a commissioned officer. She served in Iraq during the Second Gulf War and in humanitarian missions in Central America.
Emergency medicine was the shape of her life. She began as an Emergency Medical Technician and went on to work as a Registered Nurse in emergency rooms across the country, including those in San Antonio, Eglin, Albuquerque, Newport News and Las Vegas. After retiring from the USAF in 2020, she continued as a travel nurse in Charleston, WV, and Burlington, WI, before returning home to Pierce County, where she joined the ER staff at Memorial Satilla.
In 2025, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Even then, she spoke not of stopping but of returning, of one day becoming a nurse for a cancer center. In her final month, she moved to Knoxville to be near family and to receive care at the University of Tennessee Cancer Institute.
Survivors include her children, Haley Miller, Delray Beach, FL and Kelsie Thomas of East St. Louis, IL; brother Wayne Thomas and sister-in-law Merve Kester Thomas, Knoxville, TN; brother William Bowers, Blackshear; step-father John Needre, Williamsburg, VA; cousins Lorie Jansen of Grovetown, Tamee Livingston, Apopka, FL and Frank Edmonds, Newport News, VA; aunts and uncles, James and Janice Thomas and Kriss and Maureen Bowers, all of Blackshear; best friends Kristina and Carl Renfroe, Julie Foster and Corrie Sims and many other cherished friends.
She was a member of Patterson Baptist Church.
Visitation will be from 7-8 p.m. Saturday, May 16, at the funeral home.
A celebration of her life will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 16, at the Pearson-Dial Funeral Home in Blackshear. Friends and family are invited to share their memories of Maj. Miller.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the American Nurses Foundation or the Cancer Research Institute.
Sympathy may be expressed by signing the online guestbook at www.pearsondial.com.
Pearson-Dial Funeral Home of Blackshear is honored to serve the Miller family during this time.
