Norman Leslie Miller

Norman Leslie Miller was born to Alice Martin Miller and Henry Miller on May 9, 1931 in Bridgeport, Indiana. According to legend, he started working to help support his family at the age of five. His children suspect he exaggerated this. However, there’s no disputing the fact that he worked hard all his life.

Norm graduated from Ben Davis High School in 1949. During the Korean War he served stateside for four years, from 1950-1954, as an Aviation Electronic Technician, 2nd class Petty Officer. In later years he would talk about this service—spent in Jacksonville, FL and the only time he lived more than ten miles from his birthplace—more frequently than any other period in his long life. He spoke so longingly of those years that his children wondered if he was omitting some of his livelier escapades. Or if, perhaps, Jacksonville, Florida, was more exciting than it appeared.

In 1954, he and his friend Dick Glass started G&M TV in Speedway. Later Norm expanded it into G&M TV and Appliances, then G&M Video, before selling the business in 1993. Whenever the family was out and about—even on vacations far from home—Norm never failed to bump into one of his customers.

Even before selling G&M, Norm drove a school bus for Wayne Township, retiring after nineteen years. He then volunteered at Hendricks County Hospital.

While in Jacksonville, Norm went for a joyride with a Navy pilot, which inspired a love of flying; he achieved his glider pilot’s license and was a member of the Indiana Soaring Society. He also rode a motorcycle well into his eighties.

In 1957, he wed Patsy Ruth Blickenstaff and they were married until her death in 2014. They were both members of Messiah Lutheran Church and later, Messiah Lutheran Church in Brownsburg.

Diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 1993 and given three to five years to live, he had the last laugh. On his 90th birthday, he told his loved ones that he had an announcement to make. Holding up a sweatshirt once given to him by his grandsons, he proclaimed, “This is what I want to be buried in.”

The sweatshirt was emblazoned with the words, “Norm: The Man, The Myth, The Legend.”

Norman Miller died on December 11, 2021, in Life’s Journey Hospice Center, Avon, IN.

He is survived by his children Michael Miller, Melanie Miller (Hauser), Mark Miller; by his daughter-in-law Sherry French Miller, by his son-in-law Dennis Hauser; by his grandsons Alec Hauser and Ben Hauser and granddaughter-in-law Emily Curtis, and by his beloved sister Judy Cook and brother-in-law Ralph Cook.

Visitation will be at 12:00 PM on Wednesday, December 15th at Family Funeral Care, 5791 Rockville Rd., Indianapolis, IN. Services will be at 1:00 PM, followed by interment at Lincoln Memory Gardens. In lieu of flowers, please consider volunteering at your local hospice center.

Norman Miller will be buried in the sweatshirt. The man and the myth are gone.

But the legend lives on.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.familyfuneralcareindy.com for the Miller family.