Oct. 10, 1933

Oct. 18, 2011

The funeral for Dale Miller Harrell, 78, of Bainbridge was held Thursday, Oct. 20, at First Baptist Church with Rev. Paul Medley officiating. Interment followed at Roselawn Memory Gardens with Parker Heard, Robert Smith, Miller Smith, Drew Smith, Mike Miller and Jason Chambers serving as active pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers were the Baraca Sunday School Class.

Mrs. Harrell was born Oct. 10, 1933, near Blakely, Ga., the daughter of Jim Drew Miller and Mattie Lee O’Hearn Miller. She died Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, at her residence.

She was a graduate of Miller County High School’s Class of 1950, and received her Registered Nursing degree from Frazier-Ellis School of Nursing. She practiced at several hospitals, including Georgia Baptist Hospital, DeKalb General Hospital, Grady Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Veterans Administration Hospitals in Texas and Dublin, Ga.

A pioneer in health and mental health in Georgia, she served as director of Bainbridge State Hospital, was the first director of Jinks School of Nursing, and the first director of Decatur-Seminole County Training Center. She was an inspector with the state of Georgia for hospitals and nursing homes, and was instrumental in acquiring accreditation for the local VNA, where she served for several years as director. She worked as an accreditation consultant for Hospice of Southwest Georgia for several years.

Mrs. Harrell was a member of First Baptist Church, Joy Sunday School Class, past president of the Bainbridge Service Club, trustee of Georgia Baptist Children’s Homes, and received the Decatur County Woman of the Year Award in 1976.

She was preceded in death by her son, Ted Harrell.

Survivors include her husband of 52 years, Ray Harrell of Bainbridge; her daughters, Lee Ann Heard and her husband, Glenn, of Bainbridge and Susan Smith and her husband, Doug, of Norcross, Ga.; her grandchildren, Becky Heard Guagliardo and her husband, Tony, of Wesley Chapel, Fla., Julie Heard of Tifton, Ga., Parker Heard of Bainbridge, Robert Smith, Miller Smith and Drew Smith, all of Norcross; and a great-granddaughter, Ella Guagliardo of Wesley Chapel.

Ivey Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.