John Miles

John Miles was born in Wichita, Kansas, on March 13, 1950, the youngest of three children of Rev. E. Loyal and Reba Mae Miles. With his father serving several Methodist congregations around Kansas, John spent his childhood and teenage years in Wichita, Hays, Winfield, and Dodge City, where he played high school football. He earned a BA in Philosophy at Southwestern College in Winfield, where he made formative friendships with Noel, Garzoni, and Jim that would feature in stories he told to his children and friends throughout his life. During his college years, John also drove school and tour buses, staying awake by listening to music on a single earbud from an antennaed handheld radio.

Facing the dim career prospects for Philosophy majors in the early 1970s, John earned an MBA at the University of Kansas. He liked to say that upon arrival at KU, he stopped by the student union to review the posted job boards, saw several listings for accountants, and decided to become a CPA. In the years that followed, John would specialize in oil and gas accounting, working for Garvey, Eagle, Range, and McCoy, all in Wichita.

In 1976, John married Ann Miles, originally of Salina. John and Ann met in Sunday school at First United Methodist Church in Wichita. At the advice of nearly everyone, John proposed to Ann. Dinners of canned peas and canned beer were over. There would be dogs. And children: son Joseph Loyal (named for both John’s uncle and his father) and daughter Rachel Ann. John was a very involved and supportive father and loving husband—he and Ann were true partners in the life of creating and leading a close family. And the dogs: Sherman, Duke, Patches, Buster, and now Barney and Charlie.

John loved his family, his and Ann’s friends, his dogs, the challenge of complicated accounting questions, philosophy, history, literature, Kansas basketball, football (period), the Flint Hills, mountains, beaches, cars (anything with an engine and wheels), and long walks. He and Ann moved to Cary, North Carolina, in 2018 to be close to Rachel and her family, Jeff (husband), Lizzie (daughter), and Miles (son), and a shorter flight from his son’s family (wife Lisa and son Isaac) in Brooklyn, New York. The desk in John’s home office was neatly arranged with annotated trail maps for his hikes, which averaged about five miles a day.

John was a man of deep faith, nurtured first through the sermons of his father, his lifelong studies of scripture and theology, and his engagement in churches and public service, the latter in recent years including Lord’s Diner in Wichita and Bridge the Gap in Cary. His home office also featured several hand-copied scriptural passages. Beside his bed, a dog-eared copy of Leaves of Grass included many annotations, with one noted as a prayer for his grandson Miles:

I depart as air . . . I shake my white locks at the runaway sun . . .

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,

If you want me again look for me under the boot soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,

But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,

And filter and fiber your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,

Missing me one place search another,

I stop some where waiting for you.

John passed away suddenly on the morning of March 13, 2020. It was his 70th birthday. The day before, John walked ten miles on the Tobacco Trail not far from his and Ann’s home in Cary. And that night, he and Ann spoke with friends from Wichita as they drove to a quiet dinner out that would be punctuated by ice cream (another of John’s loves). On Friday morning, they woke very early with their dogs and held hands as they napped together in their sunroom. John had just finished his usual morning walk with Charlie, returning to his driveway just as Rachel arrived to drop off Miles for a day with Grandpa and Grandma. Rachel was with her father as he died.

John is survived by wife Ann, son Loyal (Lisa and son Isaac), daughter Rachel (Jeff, daughter Lizzie, and son Miles), and his sister Jean (Preston and sons Rob and John). He is preceded in death by his parents, his brother Robert (Bob), and his beloved Uncle Joe and Aunt Leota Meador.

He will be deeply missed.

John’s life was celebrated in a small remembrance at his home officiated by his brother-in-law Rev. Preston Price and attended by his family, his sister Jean and nephew John Price, and friends Tom and Barb Kruse of Wichita. Services will be held at future dates in Cary and in Wichita. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in John’s memory be made to one of the below:

Bridge the Gap Mission

2321 Crabtree Blvd., Ste. 210

Raleigh, NC 27604

https://bridgethegapmission.org

Lord’s Diner

520 N. Broadway

Wichita, KS 67214

https://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/the-lords-diner/

https://give.catholicdioceseofwichita.org/the-lords-diner

CASES

151 Lawrence St., 3rd Fl.

Brooklyn, NY 11201

https://www.cases.org

https://www.cases.org/make-a-donation/

At the family’s request, donations in John’s honor will specifically support a program for families of teens who have become involved in the criminal justice system.

(Click on the organization name below under Donations and you will be redirected to their website.)