Edwin Miles

Edwin U. Miles - August 6, 1940 - September 2, 2019
Ed Miles, went to be with his Lord on Monday, September 2, 2019.
You might have known him as a principal at Gorenflo or Lopez Elementary or working with the City of Biloxi as curator of Tullis-Toledano Manor (prior to Hurricane Katrina), The Saenger Theater (post Katrina)  or as your tour guide/curator at the Biloxi Lighthouse Park and Visitors Center. During Hurricane Camille (1969), he also served as the shelter guide for Lopez Elementary Hurricane Shelter.
He was a member of Gideon's International and a Deacon at First Baptist Church Biloxi. He served on the board with the Gulf Coast Community Concerts, bringing in talent from all over the world for our local community. He served as President of the Civitan Club, a non-profit devoted to serving those with disabilities.
Ed Miles loved going fishing with his best friend, Bob Cherry. Many times, they ventured out into the Gulf of Mexico (many times over 63 miles) in a 16ft Wellcraft. Cherry recollects, "it might have been foolish but we did it, and loved it..." - With 12oz.,  two - cycle engine cans strewn about the boat, they kept the motor running...until one day they ran out of gas and had to use a bed sheet to sail out to a Coast Guard cutter from their shallow location on the Chandeleur Islands. They once had an angel direct them into safe harbor on Ship Island during a storm. They docked the boat for the night and thanked him for saving their lives with his hand signals despite the dire conditions...he disappeared after that.... In their "Wellcraft" adventures, they experienced pirate ships and various anomalies that many would question...However, I, Edwin Ryker Miles (his son), can attest that I have experienced eating egg sandwiches with lemon-pepper seasoning, on the old Chandeleur pier with 8 water spouts all around us, then heading home in that boat in waves that made our boat feel like a surf board on a really BIG wave...(might write this book later).
He loved loved his family and he loved people. He was willing to literally give the shirt off his back to assist someone in need. He was an accomplished fly-tying, fly fisherman, net-maker, blacksmith, and avid story teller.
He was preceded in death by his grandfather, George C. "Kit" Miles; his grandmothers, Annie Stewart Miles and Martha Smith Miles; his father, Arles M. Miles; his mother, Nettie Mae Miles; his uncles, Charlie Edgar Miles and George "Clifton" Miles, Jr.; his wife of 47 years, Emma Lou Miles.
He is survived by his uncles, George Oliver Miles, Claiborne Eugene Miles, and Robert Leslie Miles; his son, Edwin Ryker Miles (Jennifer); his daughter, Melody Winn Schobert (Robert); his grandchildren, Griffin Ryker Miles, Alexander Finn Miles, Jonathan, Stephen, and Jason Schobert.
Friends are invited to visit from 12 p.m. until 2 p.m. on September 7 ^th , at Parkway Baptist Church, 17284 Hwy 67N, Biloxi, MS 39532. The funeral service is at 2 p.m. at the church, with burial to follow at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens, Gulfport, MS.