This memoir chronicles the profound journey of Sonya Claire Milam as she navigates her husband Bob’s acute medical crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic, his subsequent death, and her path through grief and widowhood. Told from the perspective of a Christian, therapist, wife, mother, and widow, the narrative offers intimate insights into caregiving challenges amid pandemic restrictions, the impact of loss, and the ongoing process of healing and reinvention.

Mercer University

College of Engineering

Bob retired in 2017 as Chief Engineer, Radar Warning Section within the Foreign Military Sales Division. His retirement lasted less than 48 hours as he became a Senior Principal Electrical Engineer for Mercer University’s Engineering Research Center. He had hoped to give them 10 years. He made it five. Bob benefited from multiple small scholarships while an engineering student at the University of Kentucky. In his professional life, he mentored many student interns. This memorial scholarship will help an engineering student at Mercer who is interning at MERC.

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FIrst Baptist Church of Christ

Bob Milam AV Memorial 

For many years, Bob served on the AV committee and was the chairperson in more recent years.  He was at the helm of the planning and preparation of this much-needed state-of-the-art equipment, but when he got sick, he had to step back before it came to fruition. On his birthday weekend in 2025 we held a dedication of the Bob Milam Memorial Sound System. Pastor Julie and the AV chairperson Hal spoke of his witness among the congregation as a quiet and humble servant ministering to the church by “listening well and lifting up the voices of others”challenging us all “to be instruments that proclaim and amply God’s word with our voices, our songs, and our lives.”

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