Pocahontas- Audine Miller Burns, 88, of Pocahontas, died at the Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House in Jonesboro on August 31, 2017.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ernest H. Burns of Pocahontas, and her parents, Leonard R. and Nona Norris Miller of Walnut Ridge.

She is survived by her son, Lieutenant Colonel Richard H. Burns, US Army Retired, wife Gayle Burns of Pocahontas; grandson, Major Alex Burns, of the Arkansas National Guard's 39th Infantry Brigade, wife Trisha Burns; great grandchildren, Wesley and Kaitlynn Burns, all of Jonesboro; her brother, Kenneth J. and Loaine Miller of Springfield, MO; her aunt, Eulois Bartlett of Searcy; and cousins, Linda Osborne of Walnut Ridge, Jane Hacker of Portia, Jim (Johnna) Hacker of Jonesboro and Jean Andrews of Walnut Ridge.

Audine was born August 8, 1929, at Poughkeepsie, AR, and raised in Sharp and Lawrence Counties. Her Norris and Miller families were among the first settlers in Sharp and Lawrence Counties, coming from the earliest families settling in Tennessee and North Carolina. She attended schools in Clear Lake, Portia and Walnut Ridge, was a star female basketball player for Walnut Ridge during the war years and was the 1946 homecoming queen of Walnut Ridge High School, graduating in 1947. She and Ernest were married September 14, 1947 while Ernest was attending Draughn's Business College in Springfield. After his graduation in 1948 they moved to Pocahontas where Ernest became bookkeeper and later manager for Baymiller Auto Parts at the South Y in Pocahontas, which later became K \u0026 M Auto Machine Co, a NAPA Parts store, which she and Ernest fully owned from 1984 thru February 2005.

Upon moving to Pocahontas, Audine became a homemaker until the mid-1950\u0027s when she became an employee of the Van-Atkins Department Store in Pocahontas. For the elaborate production in 1956 showcasing the 100th anniversary of the founding of Pocahontas, she was picked by the Pocahontas Centennial Show Director to appear at the highpoint of the production appearing as "Miss Columbia," with her Scots/Irish attractiveness and her Cherokee ancestry representing a culmination of the Old and New Worlds in a brave new land. She continued working at Van-Atkins until her retirement in the early 1980\u0027s. She loved spending as much time as possible with her grandson Alex in his early years, with him during after school hours and on weekends playing softball, basketball, golf, gardening, fishing and visiting the local parks and playgrounds. Later she assisted Ernest in the management of their NAPA Auto Parts store in Pocahontas. She was a Past-Worthy Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star, was a past member of the First Integrity Bank Advisory Board and a loyal member of the Pyburn Street Church of Christ.

Services will be at McNabb Funeral Home in Pocahontas on Friday, September 8, 2017, the visitation will be from 10-11 am, funeral service at 11 am, and burial in Jonesboro Memorial Park Cemetery at 3910 Harrisburg Road (on Old Harrisburg Road) at 1 pm following the funeral.

Honored to serve as pallbearers are Tim Burns, Barry Burns, Ronnie Foster, Jerry Bobbitt and Jim Hacker.

The family would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Danny Holt, Dr. Ray Hall, Dr. Ben Owens and the excellent staffs at Five Rivers Medical Center, Randolph County Nursing Home, NEA Baptist Hospital, and especially the Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House and its outstanding nursing staff in Jonesboro.

For lasting memorials, the family requests you consider St. Jude's in Memphis, Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, the Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House in Jonesboro, or the Fisher House Foundation for military families found online.