Reuben F. Miller

Reuben passed away at home, quietly and peacefully late in the morning Saturday March 8, 2014. He died of “natural causes” at the age of 91!!!

The first born son of Lutheran Minister John F. Miller and his wife Sophia, on June 10, 1922 in Wichita Falls, Texas. The new family soon moved to Iowa where Reuben’s five brothers would be born. The family lived is Jessup, Sebula, and Clinton Iowa where father John Preached in Lutheran and Methodist church’s while running dairy farms and delivering milk and butter in horse drawn wagons.

When war came in 1941, Reuben was 21, and was given a “deferment of service” to stay and run the families large Dairy farm and Dairy business. His brothers Victor, Virgil would both serve on active duty during the war. In 1945 Reuben left the farm himself and joined the Army Air Corps. After basic training he came to Colorado for Air Photography School at Lowery Field. Through mutual friends he was introduced to Beverly Cousins at a USO dance. Beverly was a local girl who graduated from Denver’s North High School. Both were members of the Timberline Club of Colorado, an organization for “Tall” people! The two attended dances, went skiing, hiking, and swimming with the club until Reuben was transferred to active duty at Kiessler Field in Spokane Washington where he regularly flew missions in B-29 Bombers between Spokane and occupied Japan. Weekend trips back to Denver kept the couple together. While back in Denver during the summer of 1946 Reuben proposed and Beverly accepted. There was lots of celebrating at the Timberline dance that evening! In 1948 Reuben managed a new posting back at Lowery Field as a Photography Instructor. He left the service in February of 1949 and he and Beverly were married on April 3, 1949 in Saint. Martin’s Chapel at Saint. Johns Cathedral in the Wilderness in Downtown Denver, Colorado.

(Reuben died just 26 days short of their 65th wedding anniversary)

The couple Honeymooned in Santa Fe New Mexico staying in the beautiful “La Fonda Hotel and Resort”. Reuben enrolled in Colorado Agricultural College, later named “Colorado State University” in Fort Collins Colorado. Over the next 5 years Beverly worked for the Phone Company and Reuben studied. They built themselves a 600 square foot home west of the college on Mulberry Street and life was good. In 1955 Reuben graduated with a Masters degree in Agronomy, and accepted his” first” (and only) job with the US Geological Survey based at the Federal center in Denver Colorado.

1956 was a banner year for the couple as they moved into the home they had built for themselves on Dover street (where they still live) and they welcomed their first child, daughter Jill Elizabeth on the 31st of July. By this time the rest of the Miller Family had also moved to Denver. Reuben’s father John, and mother Sophia both worked at Crown Hill Cemeteries Greenhouses, and brothers Kenneth and John Jr. graduated school and both served in the Air Force as well. Brothers Eugene and Victor settled in Colorado. Brother Virgil in Hawaii, California and Colorado. Brother Kenneth in Luxembourg.

Reuben spent each summer on “Field” trips studying the arid regions of the central and western United States and winters making what he called “mud pies” , writing Study Papers (many of these can be found in the Library of Congress in Washington DC) and learning about how the “natural systems” of soil, water and plants interact in nature. After 30 years his studies, and those of his partners now aid in the reclamation of lands after natural and man made damage has been done to these sensitive desert lands. During these years weekends were spent hiking and camping the Rocky Mountains, from Alberta Canada to the mouth of the Rio Grande river in the Gulf of Mexico. Son, Mark Ellison was born on March 28, 1959. and the small family was complete.

Beverly and Reuben started collecting “Antique” bottles. These were at first found in old cabins, mills, or mines in the mountains while the family hiked and camped. The couple then helped found the “Antique Bottle Collectors Club of Colorado. This collectors way of life caught on even deeper in the 1970’s when Beverly and her sister Barbara started their own Antique Business, ”The Bee’s Antiques”. They managed their shop in old north Denver on Tennyson street as well as doing Shows all around Colorado. Reuben was the Braun, they were the brains. They enjoyed enough success to send Beverly on repeated trips to Ireland, Scotland and England during the next two decades. Beverly and Reuben partnered in the business after the death of Beverly’s sister Barbara. They retired from “Antiquing” in the late 1990’s. Reuben spent the rest of his time engrossed in local and state politics. He was involved in developing a Street Improvement Districts to pave the dirt roads around their home. He was also involved in the creation of the City of Lakewood, and the creation of Belmar Park, and Adenbrooke Park in Lakewood. He helped create the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) which lead to the RTD bus and light rail systems we enjoy here in Denver. He served on the Lakewood City Council Board of Advisors, and the Board of the Bancroft Fire Department in southern Lakewood. He even played Santa Clause for the Departments kids for a number of years! With Jerry Kelly, one of his life long best friends, he was involved in the development of both the “Villa Italia” and “Cinderella City” Malls in the 1970’s.

In 1985 Reuben retired from 30 years with the USGS. His retirement was short lived as he accepted a job with the State of California, helping them solve the problems of continued draught in the Las Angeles water Basin. This job was followed by a position on the staff of the Geography Department at the University of Denver, where he served as an “Adjunct Professor” until health issues caught up with him in 2012. He enjoyed his time at DU immensely, serving as a “mentor and tutor” to Graduate Students in the Geography and Geology Departments on a “one to one” basis. During this time he also assisted one of the professors with a study of the Anisazi Indians “Step Farming” methods in northern Mexico. Working to discover how these ancient peoples were able to feed thousands on land that is now barren and deemed useless for agriculture. In the 1980’s Reuben was honored by the United Nations as a “Premier Research Hydrologist” and he was sent by them to confer with scientists in Jordan in the Middle East, and Sudan in Africa. The couple traveled extensively in America and Europe in retirement years.They both enjoyed good health until late in 2013 when both began having health challenges. He finally succumbed to mounting health problems on the morning of March 8, 2014. He died quietly at home. He had been under the care of his son, Mark, his wife Yvonne, her daughter Evonne, aided by nieces Kathy Taylor and Kay Micus, and the Visiting Nurses Association Hospice group. Beverly was at his side until the end.

Reuben is survived by: Wife Beverly M. Miller,

Brothers: Kenneth Miller and John F. Miller Jr.

(Brothers Victor Miller, Eugene Miller , and Virgil Miller all passed away in recent years.)

Children :

Daughter: Jill E. Kidd, with husband, Ricky A. Kidd and granddaughter, Marie L. Kidd

Son : Mark E. Miller, with wife, Yvonne M. Miller

Grandchildren:

Christopher J. Browne, Kristen S. McLean with husband Jason McLean, Benjamin J. Miller with wife Megan Lynn Miller, Megan E. Miller and Evonne L. Moy

Great Grandchildren :

Arrisa Mclean, Marium Browne, Aiden McLean, Kaleb McLean, Julia Mae Miller and a new granddaughter due in June of 2014.

Arrangements under the direction of Olinger Crown Hill Mortuary, Cemetery & Arboretum, Wheat Ridge, CO.