William R. Miller

William Russell Miller was born in Normal, IL on Aug 6, 1925 to Russell B. Miller and Irma J Graff Miller. He attended Thomas Metcalf Grade School and University High School, graduating in 1943. He enlisted in the Navy prior to graduation and went on active duty July 1, 1943 at the University of Illinois in the Navy V-12 program. In March of 1944 he was transferred to Rice Institute in Houston in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corp, where he was commissioned in 1945. He was then sent to an Advance Base Personnel Depot in California serving briefly aboard a seaplane Tender, AV-14. He was then released to inactive duty in May 1946 but remained active in the Naval Reserve, completing 23 years of service in a local Volunteer Composite Unit, a Research Unit (Schenectady, NY), and local Electronics Unit until retirement as a Lieutenant in 1966. Following his release from active duty he then returned to U of I and received a BSCE in February of 1948 and was elected to Chi Epsilon, a civil engineering honorary fraternity. He later completed several graduate courses in Electrical Engineering.

On February 22, 1948 he married Martha Luise Behr of Normal in the old original Unitarian Church in Bloomington. They resided in Bloomington except for brief periods. Martha survives at Westminster Village, Bloomington. They are the parents of two daughters, Linda (Jared) Lacy and Hilda (Jeffery) Radcliffe. They have 5 grandchildren, Abby Radcliffe, Chris Lacy, Eric Lacy (Melissa), Molly Radcliffe (fiance Derek Grimm), and Betsy Radcliffe Vogt (Steven). They have 9 great grandchildren.

Mr. Miller started his career working for J. J. Woltmann, a civil engineer. Four years later he returned to Mechanical Engineering at Eureka Williams leaving there as the Product Laboratory Supervisor. In 1954 he went with the General Electric Co. in Schenectady, NY, returning to Bloomington a year later where he was made Laboratory Evaluation Supervisor in the General Purpose Control Department. He spent five years outside General Electric as a partner in Miller & Moody Engineering, later returning to GE where he became Manager, Large Starters and Panels. The last seven years before retirement he spent much of his time overseas in England, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. Following his retirement in 1986, he worked as a contract engineer at State Farm for almost a year. He then fully retired and spent many hours volunteering on community projects with various organizations, notably one involving restoration of the old McLean County Court House clocks to working order.

He was active in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, holding most of the offices in the Central Illinois Section and during his year in Schenectady was a member of the National Junior Committee which met in New York City.

His last 7 years with GE were spent working largely on overseas projects. It was at this time he became interested in international relations. While on business and also on personal travel, he and Martha felt better understanding was needed between people around the world and felt getting young people involved in overseas study would greatly benefit them and help prevent national conflicts. They subsequently established an endowment at the University of Illinois to help Mechanical Science & Engineering students study for a semester or year at an overseas University in a country where English was not the native language. They have enjoyed meeting or corresponding with the many students who have benefited from this program. They also established a similar award at Illinois College where Martha had studied for two years.

Mr. Miller enjoyed singing and sang in small groups. While in the Navy at U of I, he was in the Men's Varsity Glee Club and at Rice in a Navy Glee Club, Octet and Quartet. Later he sang in the Passion Play Chorale from 1971 until 1986 plus the ISU Civic Choral from 1970 until 1990. He was a member of the Normal United Methodist Choir while residing in Bloomington/Normal from 1940 until 1987. He also played tympani in the Community Band.

He served on the Bloomington Public Library Board. He was also an active member of the Friends of the Library for many years, helping sort books weekly for the Library sales.

He was made a Master Mason in 1948 and joined the Scottish Rite in 1967. While in the Scottish Rite he was a member of the chorus and took part in degree work for a number of years.

He was an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, SCORE, ISU Senior Professionals, College Alumni Club, and Q.E.D. for a number of years. Other organizations that he was active in at one time were the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Toastmasters Club, GE Quarter Century Club and the GE Elfun Society. He spent many hours volunteering at the McLean County History Museum library.

He and Martha have long been interested in the Vladimir Canterbury Sister City Association; he was one of the founding members. He has visited Russia twice including a stay in Vladimir. Martha has visited Russia although not Vladimir and they both visited Canterbury several times. He was instrumental in obtaining two used ultrasound machines from GE which were then sent to Vladimir as part of the humanitarian aid. They were both active in a number of Association projects and numbered among their friends several couples from Vladimir.

Genealogy research in later years revealed he had ancestors who had served in the Revolution and one who was known by George Washington. The young George Washington made several surveys for him and Washington's Journal reveals that he stopped at the Enoch Block House several times. He joined the Sons of the American Revolution in 1998 and has been active in the local organization. In 1993, again while working on genealogy, he found two cousins in Denmark. After corresponding for a number of years they were able to meet in Copenhagen. In earlier years he had visited most of the places his various German ancestors had lived and met one very distant cousin. Genealogy research revealed that 1/4 of his ancestors were Danish and that most of the rest were German.

He found relaxation in restoring and collecting old electric trains from the twenties and early thirties. He helped restart The Ives Train Society in 1995 working with its founder from 1935. At one time he had a large number of Ives trains, including five large wide gauge steam types and all of their wide gauge electric types, most of which had extensive restoration requiring replacement parts which he made on his own machinery.

He was an avid reader of history. The periods he found most interesting were the early Christian era, the German Peasant Wars, the Thirty Years War, the American Revolution, and World War I. He had an interest in liberal Christianity and read some in that field as well.

His interest in music, specifically band music, was furthered while he was playing bass drum in the U of I band at a football game in the Fall of 1943. The War had greatly reduced the number of band personnel, limiting the marching band to a much smaller group. A. A. Harding, the director of the bands at U of I, and a good friend of Sousa's was there and came up and sat down beside him and talked for awhile. Harding was responsible for getting Sousa's Library and all its associated materials placed at the University of Illinois.

His interest in genealogy led to reading thru the run of the Minier News and along with direct Graff and Gainer family information, he learned more about some cousins who had played in Sousa's Band. Both Graydon Lower and Nathan Lower played with Sousa's Band, signing up at various times to play with the Band and also for a summer. He later corresponded with the Sousa Library at U of I and was credited with the research he did on the Lowers who played in the Sousa Band in Paul Bierley's book The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa.

While at Westminster Village he was a member of the Silver Chords until Covid prevented them from singing together in March. He was also an operator of their Christmas Model Railroad layout for several years.

A private memorial service will be held at First United Methodist Church, Normal. Memorials may be directed to the First United Methodist Church, Normal or to a charity of the donor's choice.