W.B. Miller

Billy Bruce Miller, our beloved father, passed away peacefully Aug. 8, 2013, at home in Las Vegas. The only child of Frances Bruce Miller and Harry Earl Miller, Bill was born at home April 11, 1920, in Bellevue, Ky. Educated in northern Kentucky and southern Ohio, he went on to attend classes at Xavier University in Cincinnati for a career in law, which was interrupted by World War II. Married to Patricia Jones, Bill enlisted into the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942, and after basic and extended training, was sent to the South Pacific, where he served as a communication expert at various islands on the way to Tokyo. A tech sergeant at end of the war, he was offered a commission, but opted for discharge and was released from service in December 1945. Severe malaria suggested a dryer climate, so he and wife, Patricia, along with four year old son, Robert Allen Miller, who had been born during his Air Corps training, located to Phoenix. They had a daughter, Jane Ellis Miller, in 1947, and ultimately separated and divorced in 1951. Bill later met and married Nora Haddad in 1953 and had two children together, Curtis Bruce Miller born 1955 and Scott Bruce Miller born 1962. The family moved to Las Vegas in 1965 with Nora's brother, Eddie Haddad, and opened Macayo Distributing, which initially produced tortillas for the Macayo restaurants. He later expanded the product line and customer base to all users of Mexican food basics and renamed the company Fiesta Foods, which he sold in 1995. Not content with retirement, he worked part-time at State Restaurant Equipment Co. as a consultant, which he and partner, Eddie established in 1968. Bill was a great father, role model and friend to everyone he met. He was a music lover having been involved in barbershop quartets for many years and even did a few stage performances of Broadway shows using his singing skills. He is survived by his wife, Nora; his son, Bob, his wife, Bobby, and their children, Wendy, Patty and Susan; daughter, Jane, her husband, Lou, and their children, Tamara and Daniel; son, Curtis, his wife, Eliane; and son, Scott, his wife, Deka, and his children, Zachary and Brooke. Visitation will be 3-4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, with services following, both at Palm Mortuary, 7400 W. Cheyenne Ave.