OUR TALENTED

Helen Johnnita Keller Miller

Medical Technology, ’61

Johnnie Miller is passionate about her work in medical technology, with a career spanning more than fifty years that includes managing, supervising, teaching, learning and, her favorite, bench work.

Crediting the UK College of Health Sciences for her education and the successful career her degree has allowed her to pursue, Johnnie said, “As I report correct results, normal or abnormal, I help someone. My degree has given me the background for this and has given my life special meaning.”

Her work has even lead physicians, when they were originally planning a different treatment, to alter their plan and provide more appropriate care.

Not only has Johnnie helped physicians properly diagnose and treat their patients, but she has also helped those in the University of Kentucky community in a variety of capacities. She’s been involved with the Alumni Association as president of chapters in Chicago and Atlanta, has served on the Development Council for the College of Health Sciences, is a UK Fellow, a Life Member of the university’s Alumni Association and a current member of the College of Health Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board. She is also a past recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the UK Alumni Association.

Johnnie’s passion for her work will continue beyond her retirement, when she plans to become a hospital volunteer.

“I hate to leave the hospital,” she said. “It has always been my second home.”

Johnnie is honored to be inducted into the College of Health Sciences Hall of Fame.

“I am very grateful and overwhelmed with pride. I am so proud of UK,” said Johnnie. “The overwhelmed feeling rises from knowing the College of Health Sciences is proud of my work and my contributions to the University of Kentucky. I will never be able to say thank you enough. It is simply wonderful.”

She and her husband, Bob, have been married for forty-six years and have two children, Robert and Holly. Robert lives in Kansas with his wife, Kerry, and two children, Greta (11) and Oscar (6), and Holly lives in Georgia and works for Kennesaw State University.

Tim Fister, winner of the University of Washington’s Henderson Prize, at the LERIX detector installed on the XOR/PNC 20 I-D-B beamline.Tim Fister Earns Henderson Prize

Cousin Joe M. Fister (Fred's branch) Winner of The Standard Club Shootout on Monday, July 9th

Photo by Joseph Rey Au from articleby Robin Roenker, published Dec. 12, 2007 at lexington.com and Lexington Herald-Leader

In honor of the late Harry Caudill, Al Fritsch and Kristen Johannsen were awarded the 2005 Caudill Prize for their book Ecotourism in Appalachia: Marketing the Mountains. The Caudill Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to reporting Appalachian life and values.

Most of us know that our ancestors were farmers. Our patriarch, John N. Fister and his first wife, Anna Grosser, started with truck gardening. At the time of Anna's death in 1902, the Lexington Morning Herald reported that they were among the largest land owners in Fayette County, Kentucky.

click on photo the farm of the late Carl Anthony Fister and his wife, Bertha