Ozark County resident Deborah “Deb” Miller will be honored with a retirement reception Saturday afternoon recognizing her 25 years with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, along with nine years of employment with the Missouri Department of Transportation. The event will be held from 1:00 until 4:00 at The Center on Highway 5 North at the Gainesville city limits.Miller retired Sept. 1st as a corporal with MSHP. Her tenure with highway patrol followed nearly nine years of employment with the Missouri Department of Transportation, based at the Gainesville maintenance shed, bringing her total state employment to 33 years, 11 months.Miller told the Ozark County times she joined MoDOT after high school in a job where she plowed snow, drove a grader, hauled gravel, you name it.
In 1993, she joined MSHP as a member of the 66th recruit class. After graduating from the MSHP academy, she was assigned to Taney and Stone counties in Troop D, where she served as a negotiator on the SERT (now SWAT) team and also worked on state fair details and marijuana eradication.
In 2000, MSHP honored her with a Meritorious Service Award, recognizing her negotiation skills during an Ozark County incident involving anti-semitic preacher Gordon Winrod and some of his family members.
In July 2001, she transferred to the Governors Security Division in Jefferson City and provided executive protection for three governors: Bob Holden, Matt Blunt and Jay Nixon. The assignment took her throughout Missouri, as well as to Japan and China.
Her next assignment was at Lady Luck Casino in Caruthersville, as part of her work with the MSHP Gaming Division.
She was promoted to corporal in 2013 and in January 2014, she was designated assistant officer-in-charge of the Lady Luck Casino. She retired from that position Sept. 1st.
Miller returned to Ozark County three and a half years ago, purchasing a house in Gainesville, which served as her home base while she continued to work in Caruthersville.
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