Passing It On

Dale Miller paves a unique legacy

   

Liz Taylor has her perfume. George Foreman has his grill. David Letterman has Late Night.

Dale Miller has his road.

I’ve wondered about Dale Miller since my company, When Words Matter, held its annual meeting at Nine Eagles State Park near Davis City, Iowa, last month. The county road running past the park entrance is named Dale Miller Road. In an area better known for its horse-drawn Amish buggies or an infamous Big Foot sighting in 2000, I was curious about this Dale Miller fellow.

Decatur County historian Dick Priest pointed me in the right direction; Dale Miller’s wife, Gretchen, and his daughter, Judy Larsen, completed the story.

Dale “Bookie” Miller was a long-time Decatur County road department employee. He got his nickname not from illicit gambling activities, but from his early duty as a bookkeeper and his reputation for following the book while performing his duties.

From the time he graduated from high school to his retirement in 1984, except for the time he spent surveying in the South Pacific while serving his country in World War II, Miller was a dedicated Decatur County employee. It could be harrowing work.

Once, while checking out road improvement work, he stumbled into an old well on the side of the road. Realizing that a bulldozer would arrive soon, pushing tons of dirt into the well, he scrambled to escape. After three tries, he was successful, eventually arriving at his home soaking wet from the experience.

Miller was assistant county engineer when Decatur County paved a stretch of J66 in 1964, creating the county’s first paved farm-to-market road. Miller spent 16-hour days overseeing the project as paving materials were delivered and mixed on site.

In 1999, his daughter, Judy Larsen, began writing to the Decatur County Board of Supervisors to inquire about naming that road after her “wonderful, humble, dad.”  After corresponding for a few months, the supervisors agreed to the plan.  On December 13, 1999, that original paved stretch of J66 became Dale Miller Road.

“It was a complete surprise to my dad,” Larsen said.  “I wanted it to be named Dale Miller Road during his lifetime, so that he would know about that.”

Dale Miller is now enjoying retirement with his wife, Gretchen, in Leon, Iowa. He’ll turn 87 on Nov. 4.

Don’t forget. I’ll be conducting a one-hour workshop on family history at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Iowa Genealogical Society’s annual state conference in Marshalltown. There’s lots more going on too. Check it out.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Photo of Dale Miller family provided by his family. From left, son-in-law Thad Larsen, daughter Judy Larsen, Dale Miller and wife, Gretchen Miller

October: Time for brats, beer and family history

October is one of my favorite months. The weather is usually great here in the Midwest – not too hot, not too cold – and there’s plenty to do outside before we’re mostly chased inside to wait out winter.

It’s also family history month, a time for celebrating the lives of those closest to us, present and past. The Iowa Genealogical Society will be holding its annual state conference this Friday and Saturday in Marshalltown. Genealogical superstar Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak of ancestry.com will be this year’s headliner. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6, I’ll be presenting a one-hour workshop on putting some fruit on those family trees by saving family stories.

October is also German-American Heritage Month, which explains the proliferation of Oktoberfests in recent years. It’s also Polish American Heritage Month, Celebrate Sun Dried Tomatoes Month, Go Hog Wild-Eat Country Ham Month and National Cookie Month, in case you were looking for reasons to overeat. On the other hand, October is Spinach Lovers Month and Vegetarian Month.

You may have heard that Planet Earth is bursting at its seasons with people. It’s true that the planet’s population has topped six billion, but some of the other claims about that number are over the top. For the past 30 years, there’s been a persistent rumor that up to 75 percent of the people who over roamed the earth are here right now.

Not true, says demographer Carl Haub, who’s brought a little scientific discipline to bear on the situation. Using a baseline of two humans – one man, one woman – who started populating the earth some 50,000 years ago, Haub estimates that 106 billion people have lived on the planet since. That means the current population is roughly six percent of the cumulative total, a far cry from 75 percent.

Quote of the day: "If you don't know your history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree." – writer Michael Crichton.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family stories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Flickr photo courtesy of jcbehm