December 30, 2004

OBITUARY

Bill Miller: 1943-2004

Former Almaden scoutmaster and soccer coach

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

Bill Miller was the kind of neighbor you could depend on. While he and his wife Virginia lived on Holly Place in Almaden for 15 years raising their three boys, Bill was known as an avid gardener and a fix-it man extraordinaire.

The Miller family poses at John’s July 24, 2004 wedding.

“There wasn’t a thing the guy couldn’t do!” says Virginia.

He was well known around Almaden as a scoutmaster of troops 221 and 294 and as a coach for the Almaden PAL soccer team during the late 70s and early 80s. He and Virginia moved to Murietta in southern California in 1989.

“But our heart is in Almaden,” said Virginia. “The boys still consider it home and Bill was known far and wide for his activities there.”

Bill died in Murietta on Dec. 21 after suffering for three years from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although he never smoked, he had asthma and after contracting a case of pneumonia and then bronchitis, he never recovered and eventually contracted COPD.

“It was a horrible way to die,” said Virginia. She credits the doctors at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz with keeping Bill alive the past three years. “One doctor took one look at Bill and said, ‘he’s a dying man and there’s nothing I can do’,” remembers Virginia. “But the doctors at Dominican took a different approach and tried to give him a quality of life.”

Bill was a successful pharmaceutical/hospital representative for Abbott Laboratory when he lived in Almaden, but his proudest accomplishment was his three sons. Mark lives in New Jersey with his wife Nina; Michael lives in Temecula, Calif. with his wife Molly and daughters Tilly and Hailey; And, John lives in San Jose with his wife Tina and their daughter Martika.

Before he died, Bill went shopping with Virginia to pick out a Christmas gift for each of his sons. “Each of them had a special meaning,” said Virginia. “And it helped us get through our first Christmas without him.”

Send memorial contributions in Bill Miller’s name to the Dominican Hospital at 1550 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 or to the local Boy Scouts of America office at 970 W. Julian St., San Jose, CA 95126. Virginia Miller welcomes correspondence from her old friends and neighbors in Almaden. Her address is 38846 Sugar Pine Way, Murietta, CA 92563 and her e-mail address is vlbqt3@aol.com.