Bonlyan McIntyre

Bonlyan "Bobbie" McDaniel Miller McIntyre was born August 18, 1928, in Stillmore, MS, a logging camp in what was then Pearl River County, now Stone County. Later, she moved to Lucedale, MS, and then to Gulfport in 1941. She passed away on Sunday, October 20, 2019, in Gulfport, MS.
She was a charter member of the 21 Riders Club, formed in 1961, and was a participant in local horse shows for many years. Many times, she and other horse lovers, promoted the local blood drives on horseback.
She graduated from Gulfport High School in 1946, where she was the vocalist with the school dance band for two years. After graduation, she pursued her singing career at the Merry Mansion Club on the beach in Gulfport. She also was a vocalist with the Navy band while it was stationed in Gulfport.
During World War II, she was a member of the Military Maids, an organization sponsored by the USO and attended dances at Keesler Field, Gulfport Field, the Navy Base (before it became a Seabee base) and the Gulfport Community Center, which at that time was on the beach facing the harbor in Gulfport. She was also a member of the USO Social Services Group whose purpose was to entertain the troops at the various bivouac areas.
Bobbie spent 30 years at Paine Supply in Gulfport and another 8 years as a Public Works Purchasing Agent at the Seabee Base before retiring.
Her name has always been a source of frustration. People would ask how it was pronounced, and she would reply that Daddy got it out of a book and he didn't know how to pronounce it either. Her great aunt, Emma McDaniel, who lived to be 107, was present when Bobbie was born. She wrapped her in a blanket, took her outside for a walk around the house to bring good luck, and nicknamed her Bobbie.
Bobbie always loved the West. She always wanted to be a cowboy but never could kiss her elbow and turn into a boy. She was the little girl in the comic strip who always wanted a horse. At the age of 30, when she and her family moved into the house on Robinson Road in Orange Grove, where she lived the rest of her life, the first thing she did was buy herself a horse - "Bobbie's Hallmark Topper"- a registered American Saddlebred which she rode for the next twenty-two years.
At the age of 65, after her retirement and the death of her two husbands, Bobbie fulfilled her childhood dream and became "the grandma who ran away from home to be a cowboy."
For the next 18 summers she drove her 1987 Cadillac (affectionately called the Mafia Mobile) to work at guest ranches across Wyoming. She slept in her bedroll under the stars, kept everyone fed as a trail cook and entertained guests by singing her favorite old western songs around the campfire each night. She spent several years at High Island Ranch in Thermopolis, WY, Box R Ranch in Cora, WY and Double Diamond X Ranch in Cody, WY. She was fortunate to share her love of Wyoming with her children and grandchildren over the years as they traveled out west to visit her during the summer.
In 2003, at the age of 75, Bobbie was honored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi with the Ageless Hero Award for Vitality recognizing her free spirit, determination and love of adventure.
The oldest of seven children born to Louie V. "Monk" McDaniel, Sr. and Lena Lou Dale, now deceased, she was preceded in death by her three brothers and two sisters, Louie V. McDaniel, Jr., Richmond Dale "Pete" McDaniel, Jack Kenneth McDaniel, Patricia Glen McDaniel Hannaghan, and Barbara "Billie" McDaniel Alley. Her first husband, Lloyd "Ham" Miller, Jr., died in 1974, and her second husband, Floyd P. McIntyre, Jr., died in 1986.
Bobbie is survived by her sister Johnnie Ruth Hudson; her three children, Daniel Steven "Danny" Miller (Janet), Beth Miller Drake (Paul), and James Lloyd "Jimmy" Miller (Tonia); her grandchildren, Adam Steven Miller, Amanda Nicole McGuire (Trace), and Jordyn Miller Ladner (Tyler); great grandchildren, Austin James Hardin, Christian Joseph Miller, Jax Michael Ladner, Evan Daniel Miller and Miller Elizabeth Ladner; numerous nieces and nephews; and countless friends she met along the trails.
Friends and family are invited to a Celebration of Life gathering at Shade Tree Airport at 18320 Hwy 53 in Gulfport from 11am to 2pm on Sunday, November 3, 2019. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the local USO at www.uso.org or the Alzheimer's Foundation, www.alz.org .
RIEMANN FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, 11280 Three Rivers Road, Gulfport, is serving the family.
An online obituary may be viewed and memories shared at www.riemannfamily.com
Death, the refuge, the solace, the best and kindliest and most prized friend and
Benefactor of the erring, the forsaken, the old and weary and broken of heart.
Mark Twain