Mildred Lineal Beard Sieber, of Maryville TN, died peacefully of natural causes on February 4, 2026, just hours before her 90th birthday. Born in Leeds AL, and raised in Bearden TN and Birmingham AL, Millie graduated from high school in Homewood AL, Maryville College TN (’57 BS, Home Economics and Teaching), and California University of PA (’74 MEd, Reading Specialist). She devoted her life to motivating children and adults to become confident readers and improve their learning skills; spreading the love of storytelling as an art form; serving the Presbyterian Church (USA) as an involved member of the congregations her husband Graeme served in Osceola Mills, Vanderbilt, and Elizabeth PA, and in Cleveland and Knoxville TN; and to her family.
Over 30 years, Millie taught first grade through college: Home Economics at Wasatch Academy, a Presbyterian mission school in Utah, and a public high school in Pittsburgh PA; remedial reading in public elementary and junior high schools in Connellsville and Monroeville PA, and in Knoxville TN. At Cleveland (TN) State College and Knoxville College, she taught and helped adults, who never planned to go to college, master the reading and study skills needed to earn degrees and begin new careers. Along the way, she initiated an after-school study center, peer support and instruction groups, and co-founded the Cleveland (TN) Storytelling Guild.
In retirement, Millie and Graeme returned to Maryville, where they had met after the first chapel service in the fall of 1953, and eventually become college sweethearts. (Her assigned “big sister” was his cousin and receives credit for that introduction!) Millie relished living near the Smokies and her cherished alma mater, Maryville College. She became a professional storyteller, helping listeners “to walk in somebody else’s shoes,” telling stories from GA to NY, and in Denmark and Sweden. She enjoyed leading workshops and coaching others in storytelling skills and was recently honored as a Storyteller Emeritus by the Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association. She worked on voter registration drives, political campaigns, peace-building and environmental efforts, and for the rights and equity of all people.
She enjoyed traveling, especially to state and national parks, the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough TN, and abroad, learning from people with different lived experiences. She played vital roles in several chapters of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and an initial support group for LGBTQ+ students at Maryville College. With tremendous devotion, she cared for her husband Graeme, as he suffered with Alzheimer’s Disease in his last decade and a half. She was an elder at Highland Presbyterian Church, Maryville.
Begun two decades ago, Millie was relieved to have gotten one last project to the stage where it can be completed, even though she has passed. She viewed it as her most important and significant work. Thea Schlier Pflanze was another Highland Presbyterian Church congregant, and a Maryville College faculty member. Millie interviewed and recorded Thea’s memories of living under the horrors of the Third Reich in World War II Germany. Through the auspices of the Archives at Maryville College, Millie’s original tapes were transferred to disks and transcribed. (Many thanks to volunteers with Kin Takahashi Week & MC Archivist Amy Lundell!) The Thea Project will develop presentations that storytellers can use to educate and remind folks about what happened in the past, while also illuminating present dangers and encouraging resistance whenever and wherever it is needed. With her compadre Autumn B. Hall’s determination, they engaged two well-known storytellers to carry this project forward and established it under the auspices of Artists Standing Strong Together, to allow tax-deductible contributions to The Thea Project (link below).
Millie was preceded in death by her husband, Rev. Graeme Wilson Sieber; her parents, Rev. James Robison Beard and Mary Evelyn McArthur Beard; her in-laws, John Heid, James and Carole Sieber, Al and Alice McClure, and Frank McClure. She is survived by their children, Mary Elizabeth (Beth) Sieber of Rochester NY, Robert Graeme Sieber and his husband Lucio Maramba of Long Beach CA; grandchildren, Matthew Stephen Sieber-Ford, Katharine Elizabeth Sieber Smith and her husband Aaron; siblings and their spouses, James Taylor and Kathryn Beard, Robert and Jean Beard, Marvin and Sue Beard, Mary Elizabeth (Liz) Heid; in-laws, George and Barbara McClure, and Betty McClure; and numerous treasured cousins, nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, one great-great niece, and many friends.
For their devoted and loving care, the family thank staff at Asbury Place, especially at the Beech residence; caregivers from Senior Helpers; her numerous medical teams; and special friend JoAnn Booker. For their generous willingness to travel, helping Millie maintain her involvement at the College and Church, we would like to thank Asbury Transportation and Blount County Smiles, a long list of friends from Asbury and Highland, and in particular Sandy Miller and Diane Brown. Beth and Bob also profoundly thank Millie’s Maryville siblings for the encouragement and care given to her and for driving her hither and yon, yes, but also for unending hours keeping watch during emergency room trips, early and late check-ins, multi-generational family gatherings and home cooked meals, shopping, packing, moving, fixing, accompanying to protests and concerts, and those priceless trips to the mountains. You were her treasured lifelines.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in memory of Millie to one of these, both very dear to her heart:
• The Thea Schlier Pflanze Storytelling Project, https://bit.ly/theaproject
• Highland Presbyterian Church, 721 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville, TN 37804.
A Service of Memory and Thanksgiving will be held on Saturday, May 23rd, 1 pm. Calling Hours will be Friday the 22nd, 4-7 pm, and before the service Saturday, 11 am-12:30 pm. All will be held at Highland Presbyterian Church, Maryville.
Millie and Graeme made the decision decades ago to dedicate their bodies for medical studies following their deaths. The family will inter Millie’s ashes beside Graeme’s at a later date.
