Joe Miller
SCOTTS VALLEY -- When Joe and Chris Miller moved here in the late 1970s, the city was merely a shadow of what it's since become, with just one traffic signal and small aircraft lazily circling over the skies where Skypark now stands.
But politics was Joe Miller's hobby, and he dedicated decades of his life, through various leadership positions and as a member of the local Kiwanis club, to improve life in his adopted community.
"He fell in love with Scotts Valley and wanted to make it a better place to live," getting involved in ground-floor talks about what eventually would become Skypark, the transit center and new library, said Chris Miller, his wife of 50 years.
Miller died Wednesday after a lengthy illness. He was 71.
Born in Denver, Miller moved as a toddler with his parents to Twin Falls, Idaho. He met his future wife at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., where he studied electrical engineering. After graduation, the couple moved to Santa Clara County, where Miller worked for companies including NASA Ames and Intel.
He branched off to work as a consultant in the 1980s and 1990s, whetting his appetite for civil service in the meantime by serving on the City Council from 1984-1996 -- three of those years as mayor.
Peggy Lopez, also a Kiwanis member, got to know Miller when the two served on the City Council and said she changed her vote several times, after he offered a different point of view that made more
sense."National politics should take a lesson from him," she said, adding she trusted the judgment and wisdom he'd developed through his own life experiences.
After his third term on the council ended, he moved on to the city's water district, serving as a director from 1996-2000. The couple retired soon after, and they spent the next several years traveling around the country and visiting such countries as Australia and New Zealand.
During those years, they only spent winters in Scotts Valley, but returned as full-time residents in 2004 -- the year after the city's Chamber of Commerce named Miller Man of the Year. In 1998, he took over the helm of that organization, serving as its executive director until 2001. Miller also rejoined the water district in 2008, and recently had been appointed to serve a second, four-year term that would have ended in 2016.
"Joe was a great combination of an irascible skeptic and a good-hearted softie" who took nothing at face value but "knew what it meant to trust," said Chris Perri, another water district director.
Follow Sentinel reporter Kimberly White on Twitter at Twitter.com/kwhite95066
At a glance
JOE MILLER
BORN: April 17, 1941
DIED: Oct. 17, 2012
SURVIVORS: Wife, Chris Miller; daughters Debbie Guyotte and Jennifer Grove; son Steve Miller; three grandchildren and many nieces and nephews
EDUCATION: Bachelor's in electrical engineering from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
CAREER: NASA Ames, AMS and Intel; executive director of the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Scotts Valley City Council, Scotts Valley Kiwanis Club, Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce, LAFCO, AMBAG, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, Red Cross Transportation Program
SERVICES: 1 p.m. Saturday at San Agustin Catholic Community, 257 Glenwood Drive, Scotts Valley, followed by a reception at the Scotts Valley Community Center, 360 Kings Village Road.
CONTRIBUTIONS: Scotts Valley Kiwanis Club, P.O. Box 66257, Scotts Valley CA 95067, or to St. Vincent de Paul, 257 Glenwood Drive, Scotts Valley CA 95066.
Editor's note: Joe Miller was executive director of the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce from 1998 to 2001. This information was incorrect in an earlier version of this article.
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