By Chris Valley

At its Fifteenth Annual Community Breakfast, the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta honored Holy Cross parishioner Dorothy Miller for exceptional personal ministry. Over the past 13 years, Ms. Miller has adopted 10 children who have various special needs.

Honored along with Ms. Miller were the Reverend Timothy McDonald III, national director of Operation Breadbasket and Special Projects for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and pastor of the First Iconium Baptist Church, for exceptional personal ministry; Dr. William H. Suttles, executive vice-president and provost of Georgia State University, for exceptional service to the community; and the Reverend Dr. Vernon S. Boyles, Jr., former pastor of the North Avenue Presbyterian Church, for exceptional service to the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta.

In his address to the 1200 assembled guests, Dr. Fred B. Craddock, Professor of Preaching and New Testament at Emory University, said that the purpose of the annual community breakfast is “to honor those who serve and often without notice.”

Commenting on the role of Christians in society, Dr. Craddock said, “It would be wonderful if every Christian represented a center of values, tradition and purpose ....(and recognized that) the value of another person is not determined by that person’s circumstances.” He praised those who have the capacity “to love in circumstances where it is difficult.”

In presenting the annual awards, Mr. Willis Johnson, Jr., chairperson of the awards committee, cited the honorees for their “inspiring example of Christianity in action.”

Mr. Johnson presented Dorothy Miller with the Mrs. Fred W. Patterson award for exceptional personal ministry. He noted that Ms. Miller brings “joy into the lives of severely disabled children.” Ms. Miller and her children have created a real family, caring and helping one another. Their neighborhood has become “a meeting place for two worlds” in which the varying abilities of individuals are recognized and appreciated, he continued.

Ms. Miller formerly was a member of the Grey Nuns of Sacred Heart for thirteen years. She came to Atlanta in 1960 to teach at Christ the King School, and later taught at Immaculate Heart of Mary School where she developed a religious education program for severely handicapped children. Later she founded the Elaine Clark Center for the Growth and Development of Exceptional Children, Inc., which now educates over 100 severely handicapped children.

In 1972, she left the Grey Nuns to become mother and homemaker for a seven year-old disabled child who had been abused and neglected. More children followed: boys and girls, black and white; now ranging in age from one to 17, all but one are involved in school, church and other activities.

Responding to the award, Ms. Miller expressed her appreciation “to the Christian Council, and to the people who came with me this morning because I do not do this alone. I thank my children, who really are the ones who deserve the honor today.”