OBIT: Harold Edward "Flash" MILLER, 2004, Hollidaysburg, Blair County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives 12/5/2004 by Romayne Shay McMahon

Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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_______________________________________________ 

HAROLD EDWARD "FLASH" MILLER

  Attorney Harold Edward "Flash" Miller, 89, Hollidaysburg, died Sunday 
evening, November 28, 2004 at Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona 
Hospital Campus.  He was born April 10, 1915, in State College, Pa., son of 
Chester Arthur and Suzanna Johnston (Bailey) Miller.
  He graduated from Altoona High School in 1933 and Dickinson College, 
Carlisle, Pa. in 1937.  Afterward, he attended Dickinson School of Law, 
which awarded him a bachelor of law degree in May 1940.
  He acquired the nickname "Flash" in high school, where he played on the 
varsity baseball, track and football teams, as well as a varsity basketball 
team that competed for the state championship.  During college, he played 
on Dickinson's varsity soccer and basketball teams, serving as co-captain 
of the latter during his junior and senior years.  From 1937-1940 he served 
as head coach of Dickinson College's freshmen basketball squad and as 
assistant coach of its varsity team.  During the same years, he played 
amateur baseball in the Greater Altoona League and the Blair County 
Baseball League and semi-pro ice hockey in the Hershey area.
  In 1941, he completed a clerkship in the office of then Assistant District 
Attorney John M. Klepser, and on May 21, he was admitted to the bar of the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. On October 14, 1941 he married Elizabeth 
Joanne Rooney of Hollidaysburg.
  With the outbreak of World War II, he was inducted into the Army as a 
private in July 1942, attended officer training school and was commissioned 
an infantry lieutenant in 1943.  Before his discharge in 1945, he had been 
awarded a Bronze Star and elevated to the rank of captain, having served in 
both the First and Third Armies and having earned five Battle Stars for 
participation in all of the major campaigns of the European Theater of 
Operations.
  During the more than 60 years of his practice of law, he earned his 
professional reputation chiefly as a trial lawyer, being extensively and 
often successfully involved in the conduct of major civil and criminal 
litigation.  Eventually, he also was admitted to the bars of the U.S. 
District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the U.S. 
Circuit Court of Appeals for the 3rd District.  In 1968, he was appointed 
to the National Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association.
  He was the first commander of the former John Hollister Stewart Veterans 
of Foreign Wars Post in Hollidaysburg, served for several years as chairman 
of the Blair County Young Republicans Club. was a member of the Altoona 
Business Club, served as Secretary and member of the Board of Governors of 
the Blairmont Country Club and was a former deacon, trustee and elder of 
the Broad Avenue Presbyterian Church, Altoona.  In later years, he became a 
member of the congregation of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hollidaysburg.
  He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Elizabeth Joanne; his daughters; 
Deborah Ott, Christine Hammerle and Cynthia Crilly and their husbands; his 
sons; Harold "Scott" Miller and Randall Miller and their wives; 12 
grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and a sister, Elizabeth Kurtz of 
Denver.
  Friends will be received from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, December 2, 
at Sorge Funeral Home, Hollidaysburg.  A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 
10 a.m. Friday, December 3. at St. Mary's Roman Catholic church, 
Hollidaysburg, by Father John J. Palko, after which Harold's remains will 
be interred at Alto-Reste Park Cemetery with military honors.
  A resolution service will be held at 8:30 a.m. Friday at Sorge Funeral 
Home by the Blair County Bar Association.
  In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Harold Miller may be made 
to the charity of the donor's choice.

Altoona Mirror, November 30, 2004