MILLER, Merle LeRoy 1922-2003

MILLER, YOUNG

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 2/23/2015 at 23:53:32

Merle LeRoy Miller, 80, of Friendship Village, died Friday, Nov 21, 2003, at Covenant Medical Center of complications from a blood disorder, Myelodysplastic Anemia Syndrome.

He was born December 20, 1922, in College Springs, Iowa, son of Otis and Hilda Miller. He married Doris (Fritzie) M. Young on June 4, 1944 in Palmyra, Missouri. She died August 31, 2000.

He started his college years at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri, completed further studies at Iowa State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1944.
He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942-53 with active duty in World War II as Engineering Officer on LST ships in the Mediterranean and U.S. waters. He advanced to Lieutenant during his commission.

During his 38 year engineering career with John Deere Waterloo in Product Engineering, he supervised testing and design groups developing engine, transmission and general chassis design. Projects included the 8010,1020 and 2020 tractors, roll-over protection, enclosed cabs, the 6000 and 7000 series tractors and several series of four-wheel-drive tractors. He is named on several patents for tractor parts. In later years, he was involved in planning and managing future tractor programs, involving extensive documentation and presentations.
He actively served in the Council of Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) in which he was awarded a Fellow Membership, an honor given to only 2% of its members. Other organizations included the Waterloo Technical Society and Toastmasters.

In his retirement years, he delivered a paper to a Congressional committee on alternative fuels, promoting the use of ethanol. In 1999, ASAE published his book, Designing the New Generation John Deere Tractors, chronicling the revolutionary change from Deere’s two-cylinder to multi-cylinder tractors, in which he took part.
He was a member of two honorary engineering fraternities, Pi Tau Sigma and Tau Beta Pi. He was active in his 57 years at his church, serving from Sunday School teacher and superintendent to Moderator. He was also a loving and proficient caregiver to his beloved wife in her later years.

His greatest honors were his character and example to his many family members and friends, and his ultimate award of “good and faithful servant” as he returned his Maker on his journey to his eternal home last Friday.

Survivors include: two sons, Mark Miller of St. Petersburg, FL, Kevin Miller (Jody) of Woodinville, WA; one daughter, Jean (Jim) Vaux of Cedar Falls; six grandchildren - Tenia (Darren) Clark of Oregon, Holly (Tony) Yates of Davenport, Heather Miller of Washington, Dana (Tim) Allen of California, Zachary Hedrington of Virginia, Barry Miller of California, Lindsay Vaux of Iowa City, and Elise Vaux of Cedar Rapids; five great-grandchildren: Jessica and Allison Clark, Hope and T.J. Yates, and Abigail Allen; and one brother, John Miller of Champaign, IL.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife.

[Source: Locke Funeral Home]