Melvin Eugene Miller

Melvin E. Miller, 87, passed away on Monday, November 13, 2006, at the Hanover Hospital. He was born on June 25, 1919, in Greenleaf, KS the son of Francis Marion “Frank” and Edna Pearl (White) Miller. He attended Greenleaf schools, graduating from high school in 1937. He attended Kansas State University, studying to be an athletic coach. He played second base for the Concordia Ban Johnson baseball team and was a member of the Concordia team that won the 1939 National Championship. He then signed a contract to play professional baseball with the Cincinnati Reds organization. He was sent to the Reds’ farm team in Riverside, CA. At the start of WWII, he enlisted in the US Army and served in four major invasions in the European theater; North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy (D-Day). He returned to Greenleaf to operate the family drugstore, after the sudden death of his father in 1947. He is survived by his wife, Betty Jane (Brown) Miller, whom he married on June 16, 1949, in Hollywood, CA. They had one son, Robert Cobb, who lives in West Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, Kathy. Other survivors include a brother Lloyd L. Miller and wife Alice of Winfield; a sister, Opal Irene Powell, of Santa Cruz, CA; four grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren; four nephews and two nieces. Mel was preceded in death by his parents, a brother Ralph, and a niece. Cremation is planned and a family memorial service will be held at a later date. Memorials may be made to the Greenleaf ambulance or Greenleaf meal site. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Melvin Eugene Miller, please visit our flower store.