Duncan Reid Miller
Hundreds gathered at the Nut Tree Airport Monday afternoon to remember their beloved friend, pilot Duncan Miller.
Miller passed away one week ago at the age of 93 at the Laurel Creek Care Center in Fairfield.
During Monday's celebration of life service everyone claimed Miller as their friend.
"He tried to make a friend out of everyone, and then some," said Jenny Locklin, Miller's daughter. "We'd have to drag him out of places because he was always talking with someone.
"I saw him every Sunday, at least," she continued. "I wasn't ready for him to go. We were ready to keep him forever."
Intertwined through the God-centered service full of scripture and hymns were stories of Miller's character, personality and big heart.
"You've all come here to honor a life well lived," said Rockville Presbyterian Fellowship Church Rev. Larry Vilardo. ... "Duncan lived concrete ethics."
In 1942, Miller committed his life to Christ, a moment that changed his life and everyone else's. Vilardo shared that if everyone lived a life as ethical as Miller did, then the world would definitely be a different place.
Miller's good friend Linn Benson agreed.
"He was a good Christian man and an aviator extraordinaire," Benson said.
Miller was born in Omaha and got his first experience with planes as part of the Civil Pilot Training prior to World War II. He received all pilot ratings, including commercial and flight instructor.
In 1940, he worked in an aircraft factory in San Diego and helped build the B-24. Early in WWII, he was selected to become a civilian flight instructor to help train the large influx of students needed to crew the many aircraft needed in the war effort. In 1944, he was called to active duty, commissioned as an Army Air Forces pilot with duties as a ferry pilot, delivering aircraft from the factory to their units in the United States and Alaska. In 1948, Miller, along with his long time friends Wilber Fitch and Mike Hunt formed a group and started an airline called Air Transport Associates, flying mostly C-46 aircraft within the United States and Alaska. This independent airline was so successful it interfered with a major airline so the Civil Aeronautics board revoked their charter.
This led to Miller and Fitch forming a contracting company in 1956 named U.S. Eagle that performed contractual services for the government throughout the continental United States and Hawaii. They sold the company in 1984 and retired after nearly 30 years of successful operation. U.S. Eagle operates today.
Duncan carried on his love of flying at The Nut Tree Airport after retirement. Several have joked that they should check on Miller's yellow super cub to see if it was still at the airport and that he hadn't taken it with him.
Miller also shared his love of flying with others by instructing them at the Nut Tree Airport. He not only furnished the airplanes to fly, but also the fuel money. Family and friends shared that there are several pilots serving in the military and as airline pilots who were first taught by Miller.
Don Gordon, also a long time friend of Miller's, said that it was a true tribute to a great man to see so many people attend Monday's ceremony.
"He was such a special person," Gordon said. "Duncan was a man who only knew how to give."
He recalled that Miller joined the Gordon Valley Fire Department as a volunteer fire fighter and helped build the new station in the 1970s. When the new foundation was poured, Gordon said Miller spent the night in below freezing temperatures making sure the slab didn't get cold and crack.
Miller also, according to Gordon, would show up in his pajamas when they got a call and just put the turnouts over his clothes. They didn't think anything of it, Gordon said, until Miller showed up one time with his slippers on and not his boots.
"He was always enthusiastic," he said. "When you had Duncan as a friend, you have a friend forever."
Gordon also described Miller's giving nature. Miller started a tradition some 30 years ago of picking up milk at Sunnyside Farms in Fairfield and delivering it to the church. Now it's delivered to Mission Solano. He also regularly opened up his property for volleyball games and Easter sunrise services.
"We're saying farewell to an icon of the valley," Gordon said.
Before Miller was honored in a Missing Man Formation flight outside, Locklin shared a final story her dad's nurses shared with her.
It was Monday, just before Miller passed away, that he was being assisted to bed when they heard a noise.
It was at that moment that Miller took his final breaths when, for no reason at all, Locklin said the nurses heard the toy Sopwith Camel sitting on the night stand next to the bed start it's engine.
Story and Photo Gallery: http://www.thereporter.com
Obituary for Duncan Miller: http://www.bryanbraker.com
Jim Booth of Nevada City pulls his World War II era fighter into the "Missing Man Formation" in the skies above the Nut Tree Airport at the conclusion of a memorial service for Duncan Miller on Monday. Miller a fixture at the airport and World War II pilot passed away last Monday at the age of 93.
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