Retirement party Saturday for Gainesville native who served 25 years with MSHP


Cpl. Deborah “Deb” Miller

Deborah Miller’s 1981 GHS senior picture

Friends, family and former co-workers are invited to a retirement party for Deborah “Deb” Miller from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at The Center on Highway 5 north at the Gainesville city limits.

Miller, a 1981 Gainesville High School graduate, is the daughter of the late Samuel Lee Heriford, formerly of Rogersville, and the late Beverly Bernice Glover, formerly of Noble. She retired Sept. 1 as a corporal in the Missouri State Highway Patrol after serving 25 years. Her years with the Patrol followed nearly nine years’ employment with the Missouri Depart-ment of Transportation, based at the Gainesville maintenance shed, bringing her total state employment to 33 years, 11 months. 

After high school, Miller joined MoDOT in a job where she “plowed snow, drove a grader, hauled gravel, you name it,” she said recently. 

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 1994, she earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Mineral Area College in Park Hills. 

In 2000, MSHP honored her with a Meritorious Service Award that recognized her negotiation skills during an Ozark County incident involving Gordon Winrod and some of his family members. 

In July 2001, she transferred to the Governor’s 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 on Dec. 1, 2013, and in January 2014, she was designated assistant officer-in-charge of the Lady Luck Casino. She retired from that position Sept. 1.

She 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. Now retired, she says she enjoys being back home and looks forward to volunteering at The Center and helping with some of her hometown’s traditional events 

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423