Greaver Lewis (Child) & Laura Novella Morgan (Spouse)

Greaver Lewis

Greaver miller

 

Greever Lewis (age 8) with Audrey Mozelle & Gaylon

The eldest of eleven children born to A.P. and Louella Wynn Miller.  Born July 2, 1897 in Yowell, TX.  Greever graduated from Cooper High School and attended Baylor University for one year.

He then worked for a car dealership in Cooper before enlisting in the Army’s Signal Officers’ Reserve Corp in 1917 at the age of 20.   His term of enlistment lasted 5 years.

Miller’s dream of becoming a pilot required extensive study.  He graduated from the U.S. School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Texas-Austin on July 13, 1918.  From there Greaver moved to Rich Field in Waco, Texas.  where he excelled at putting the newly-learned theories into practice. Upon passing his pilot examinations, he was commissioned as a “Reserve Military Aviator” on 1918 December 13. He was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant on February 15, 1919.  Along with learning how to fly, Greever was trained in aerial photography.

In 1921, Greever returned to Copper and went to work for Hooten Drug Co.  In 1922, he enrolled at the Danforth School of Pharmacy in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Upon graduation in 1923 he went to work for Butcher Drug in Clarksville, Texas.

1919 Fourth of July parade

That same year his father, A.P. financed half of a partnership with Floyd Lane to buy North Side Pharmacy in Cooper from Sam Morgan and Charles Pratt.  Greaver later bough Lane’s half.  The Grand Theater was located next door to the pharmacy and had a brillant neon sign.  Greaver had a drugstore sign of neon made for his store.  That sign was moved when Greaver moved the drugstore to the southeast corner as a result of his purchasing the Farmer’s National Bank building from Cleveland Ratlif.  The sign is still prominently lighted with neon today.  Greever moved the drugstore and his “Upstairs Doctors” to the new location in 1930 and changed the name to Miller’s Pharmacy.

Miller’s Pharmacy

In 1934, Greever married Laura Morgan who had moved to Cooper as a home demonstration agent.

In 1936, Gerald Lewis Miller was born and in 1939, James Charles Miller was born.  Greever owned Miller’s until 1945 when he sold the store to his brother, Manton, who had worked for him since he was a young boy.  Greever explored other interests, but still worked as a pharmacist.  He bought and sold a car dealership in Carthage, Texas before moving to Dallas to retire.  He worked part-time as a pharmacist even then.   He died on November 3, 1968 as a result of a stroke after surgery.