Kenneth Lew Miller

Kenneth Lew Miller, 86 years of age, of Castle Rock, Colorado, passed away in the evening of Saturday, April 27, 2024. He is survived by his spouse, Evelyn, his daughter Terril and son Keith. He is preceded in death by his older and only sibling, Jesse Miller, Jr., who passed away in July of 2019. A Celebration of Life is being planned for later in the summer and further details will be provided for those who can attend. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you please make donations to the Ken and Evelyn Miller Endowed Scholarship, John Brown University in Siloam, Springs, Arkansas. Donations to this scholarship can be made on-line, https://johnbrownuniversity.givingfuel.com/jbu-online-giving-page, or by contacting Lea Sutherland, [email protected], 479-524-7492, who can assist with the donation in person.

Ken was born in Siloam Springs, Arkansas on October 31, 1937, to Jesse Miller, Sr. and Edra Garner. The family eventually moved to Arlington, Virginia where Ken graduated from Washington Lee High School. He discovered his love of mechanics and often could be found working on his motorcycle and eventually his car. John Brown University, being founded by Ken’s great uncle, was a natural next step in his education and he graduated in the spring of 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

On Thursday, June 2nd of that same year, he married Evelyn Brown of La Junta, Colorado, and they would have been married 64 years as of 2024. The couple moved to the Washington D.C. area where Evelyn began her career as a nurse and Ken worked as a technical writer for a short period of time and soon after, for Emerson Electric. Terril was born April, 13, 1961 and two years later, Keith was born March 3rd. The family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana when Ken was hired by Chrysler Corporation. This job started his life-long journey as an aerospace engineer and project manager.

For some time, the family moved every few years as Ken worked on contract with various companies. The family moved to Hampton, Virginia when he was hired by Ling Temco Vought, and in Austin, Texas he was contracted by Tracor. Next was a move to Littleton Colorado, where Ken worked for Martin Marietta, primarily on the Mars Viking project, after which he started his project managing career with Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. There he worked on many different projects such as the Star Tracker, Space Shuttle, Hubble and Chandra to name a few. He was very successful as a project manager, often handling several large projects at the same time.

His most persistent passion, outside of outer space exploration, was for fishing and hunting; he loved being outdoors in the mountains or in a boat on the ocean or on a lake. He became a master of the BBQ Grill and a particularly good seafood chef due to his success over time in fishing and hunting. Also, in his later years, you could often find him on an ocean cruise with Evelyn as he adored traveling by water and learning about the world.

He thrived on opportunity; engaging his sharp analytical and observational skills to manifest in the world. This was apparent whether he was playing poker, engaging in humor or setting up a joke, tracking an elk, trading in the stock market, or securing a better deal at the grocery store (we all know how much he loved a two for one sale). Being independent, curious, creative and having a particularly insistent engineering mind, he was constantly learning, experimenting, improving various skills. He fixed and maintained the family house, the vehicles, the appliances, oversaw the addition of a two story jacuzzi room to the Fairview house, made root beer and then every kind of wine, planted and tended a large garden, and created furniture for his mountain cabin, just to name a few of his ventures.

As much as he sought out solitude away from the city and people, he always welcomed a gathering of his good friends and family, good food and drink, laughter and dancing and music. Even on particularly rough days, he could be encouraged to loosen up, get in a party mood and have fun. He will be there in spirit, at gatherings where there is celebration and hearts coming together to share.