John B. Miller

John Miller was an outgoing, energetic man, who despite all his activities still always found time to spend with his family and friends. Attracted by his generosity, straight-forward nature and sense of humor, people seemed to like John just as much as John liked people - everyone he met was his friend. Constantly surrounding himself with those he loved, John lived every moment of his life to the fullest.

On March 8, 1955, John Bunker Miller III was born to John and Adrianna Miller of Long Island, the first of five. As a housewife, Adrianna was able to devote all her energies to raising her children, and passed on an ethic of community service and religious faith. In fact, the Catholic faith community was an important part of John's life - in addition to Mass at St. Brigid's Catholic Church, he attended a catholic school and served as an altar boy. Active and energetic, John enjoyed playing sports as a boy, especially baseball and basketball. Even from an early age, however, John realized there was more to life than fun and games, and took the initiative to start earning his living in the world. His first job was as a newspaper delivery boy, in partnership with his brother.

In eighth grade, John was hired at the Old Westbury Golf Club, where he would work for the next six years. One of the highlights of his career there was the day he got to caddy for Willie May's - quite an honor! Also around this time, John opened a small lawn maintenance business with his brother Tom. The first lawn they mowed was with a push mower, and as it took five hours, the enterprising pair soon invested in a power mower. At one point, they had twenty-five lawns in their rotation - their expenses were kept to a minimum, since gas was only twenty-five cents per gallon. In his free time, John enjoyed drumming in the marching band. In 1973, John graduated from Chaminade High School. He went on to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where he studied business and marketing and played on the Lacrosse Team. In 1978 he graduated with a bachelor's degree and moved to Montclair, New Jersey. After trying a few different jobs, he settled down in the insurance business.

In 1984, John glimpsed his future wife for the first time at the YMCA. Her name was Maureen, and she was sitting down with an icepack on her face. John sat down next to her and struck up a conversation, asking what had happened - the rest is history. That night, he told his roommates that he had met the woman he was going to marry; of course, they all told him he was crazy. Nonetheless, Maureen and John soon fell in love and were married on October 4, 1986. The couple traveled to St. Martin Island for their honeymoon, and came home pregnant with twin girls! A bit of a shock for Maureen, but John was immediately ecstatic. The girls, Kaitlin and Bridget, were born on July 4, 1987. From that first day of fatherhood, John took his responsibilities as a dad seriously, guiding his girls with loving care through childhood to adulthood. He loved every minute of it, too.

After the girls were born, John started looking for work in Michigan. In 1991, he found a job with the Sanford Insurance Group in Kalamazoo - it was a nice area, and they liked the name of the town. The girls attended St. Monica Elementary, where John became the assistant basketball coach. In addition to coaching, John constantly donated his time for things like the Education Commission at St. Monica, Insurance Boards, bingo, and lots of school activities. A completely generous man, John would do anything for anybody.

Just as energetic in his professional life as his personal one, John worked at the Grotenhuis Group for the last six years, where he was the director of Sales and Marketing. Despite the demands on his time at work, John firmly kept the weekends open for family time. He attended almost all of the girls' sporting events, and kept all of their artwork pinned up in his office - a concrete reminder of the important things in life. Another important part of John's character was his staunch patriotism. He always wished he had been able to serve his country through military service, at the age of forty even trying to enlist in the National Guard.

The New York Yankees and Jets and Lake George were all important to him and kept him well connected to his roots. John enjoyed the great outdoors, and a good game of golf, mostly insurance outings during the week and during vacations up at Torch Lake, wish were especially important to him.

John was a very straight-forward man with a perpetually positive attitude towards life; his motto was "worry about the things you can control but not the things you can't." When John was diagnosed with stomach cancer, this life philosophy was tested to its limits. John's innate strength of character was proven everyday, however, as he maintained his joy in life to the end, comforting others as much as they comforted him.

John B. Miller, III of Kalamazoo died August 21, 2006. Members of John's family include his wife, Maureen Miller; twin daughters, Kaitlin and Bridget, sophomores at WMU; four brothers and sisters, Tom (Janet) Miller of Lake Park, FL, Jeanne (William) Nesselt of Plantation, FL, Jim (Kim) Miller of Califon, NJ, and Matt (Nancy) Miller of Mineola, NY; his parents, John II and Adriana Miller of Westbury, NY; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Learn more about John, view his Life Story film, and visit with his family and friends on Thursday from 4:00-8:00 PM at the LIFE STORY FUNERAL HOME, BETZLER-Kalamazoo, Stadium Drive (West of US-131) 375-2900. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday 10:30 AM, St. Monica Catholic Church, with burial taking place at a later date in Lakeview Cemetery, Torch Lake. A luncheon reception will take place following the mass at the Beacon Club. Please visit John's memory page at www.lifestorynet.com where you can archive a favorite memory, upload pictures, or get information about memorial contributions to West Michigan Cancer Center or Hackett Athletic Boosters - Girl's Basketball.