EULOGY FOR HARRY MILLER
April 1, 2004
How can you sum up a person’s life in a few minutes? We all know that you can’t do that. But I can try to mention a few of the things that we as a family feel were some of his defining characteristics, the “highlights” of his personality that stayed pretty much the same throughout his life.
First of all, he lived life the way he wanted to live it. He took the world as it came, without complaining about this or that little thing, or about some hardship or “unfairness” that life might bring. He lived through the Depression, knew what it meant to work hard, some times for very little pay. As a young man, he hopped a freight train with a buddy, heading for the Dakotas to find work there with the threshing crews. He kept active all of his life, not only with farming and the many “empty mouths to feed”, but with other hobbies, too.
Many of those hobbies related to another defining characteristic of Dad, his love of nature. Those who knew him knew how much he loved hunting, fishing, berry-picking, mushroom-hunting, and gardening. Like most nature-lovers, he loved animals. Besides the normal cattle and hogs on our farm, at one time or another we raised a few more unusual types of livestock, including mink and turkeys. We also had a strange and varied assortment of pets as well. We had the usual cats and dogs and horses, of course, but at different times we also had pet goats, a pet chicken, pet squirrels, a pet pig, and once even some pet skunks.
Besides the hobbies relating to animals and the outdoors, Dad also branched out into other areas you might not have expected from a busy Iowa farmer; he tried his hand at wine-making, enjoyed listening to some classic operas, and reading the Wall Street Journal. Reading the Journal went along with his undertaking to learn more about the stock market, and to become an experienced and knowledgeable investor.
The whole concept of reading, and education generally, was also one of Dad’s distinguishing characteristics. I remember when I was still fairly young, Dad had an 8 or 10 volume set of the works of Robert Ingersoll, and he spent who knows how many weeks or months reading those volumes. I’m ashamed to admit that, with probably as much or more “spare time” than Dad had, I still have not cracked open even one of Mr. Ingersoll’s volumes. I can also recall Dad reading works by Voltaire, Thoreau, Steinbeck, and other classic authors. I may be wrong, but I think most Iowans, indeed most Americans, are more likely these days to be watching Survivor or playing a computer game than reading Voltaire and Thoreau. I can’t help but think that Dad’s way was better.
Another of Dad’s characteristics was the hospitality and generosity he had for friends in the North English community, and for visitors from everywhere. It seemed that we always had a much bigger garden than we needed (which was not necessarily a plus for those of us who helped tend it), but Dad always enjoyed sharing tomatoes or corn, or melons with neighbors and friends. When we brought friends home from college, we always knew they’d have plenty of good food and good hospitality. Of course, along with that would come inevitable discussions about current events, politics, or religion, but somehow even those became part of the overall hospitality.
Whether with visitors, family, or friends, Dad always loved a good joke. When you visited him, he usually had at least one he had been saving up to tell you. He loved recounting practical jokes that he, or perhaps a friend, had pulled off, perhaps even with him as a victim of it. Even not long ago, after his illness had worn on him for several years, and he had difficulty talking at all, if someone told a good joke, or something struck him as especially funny, you could see his eyes just shine with a mischievous delight. Somehow it seems appropriate that his funeral turned out to be on April 1st.
And finally, family. Dad and Mom raised 11 kids. I won’t attest to our quality; I’ll leave that for others to judge. What I do know is that we all still get together often in groups of 2 or 3 families, and as an entire group once a year. We like to be with each other, and have a deep appreciation for what family is and what it means. That appreciation had to come from somewhere, and I think it came from you, Mom, and from you, Dad.
Thank you, Dad, and we love you.
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