Eighty Years Behind the Masts: The Great Beyond

By Miller

The introduction was written 62 years ago. The Great Beyond is my age from 17 to 80. This book reveals what can be done. It answers the question, Who am I?

The Miller genealogy is traced to Adam and Eve. The Miller Code of Ethics, Curriculum Vitae, and a Broad Mentality are defined.

Famous people travel. I have circled the earth seven times, traveled to Japan 40 times, to Pearl Harbor 25 times, and I have driven thousands of miles in Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Study the worlds cultures. Learn the motto God gave us, Faith, Hope, and Love.

My life is working and learning. Read and learn without working. Plan your life NOW. Thirty years in advance I planned a sabbatical every ten years. I had three planned concurrent careers: Academic Neurosurgery, United States Naval Reserve, and Founder of a Neurosciences Center with an academic interchange with 25 countries.

After seven days a week for 40 years in neurosurgery, I feared retirement. At age 70 I retired to the unknown. I elected a new life. In our 34-foot Sea Ray we traveled to all 36 yacht clubs in the Florida Council, from Destin, the Keys and to Jacksonville. There is much time on a boat. I memorized the Teachings on the Mount.

We returned to Apollo Beach, Florida. I became busy and coined a new term, Retirement Career. (Career as go at top speed) I authored seven books, am on the voluntary faculty of the medical school, deacon and teacher at church, and continued Permissive Orders for the Navy. Recently I became the first 80-year-old drilling reservist. We have a pool man and yard man. (Our lot is covered in rocks and palm trees.) My responsibility is to keep the boat dock mosquito free by filling the Mosquito Magnet with propane, service the jet boat, and keep the garage in order. Read on and learn what one can do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456720063

Miller

Rear Admiral (Doctor) Joseph H. Miller has been a Baptist deacon for fifty-seven years and a teacher or director in Sunday School for fifty-eight years and retired after three simultaneous careers: Neurosurgeon for forty years on the academic faculty of the University of Tennessee School of Medicine, Memphis, and a member of the Semmes-Murphey Clinic, Memphis. Fifty-nine years as a Navy Reservist retiring as a Rear Admiral and the first Reservist to serve as a Deputy Surgeon General of the Navy. He volunteered for duty in Vietnam in 1969. A partial list of his medals includes; The Legion of Merit, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal (SBS), Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (GF+BP), Republic of Vietnam Civil Action First Class (GF+BP), and Navy Expert Pistol. His ribbons without a medal include: The Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Commendation and the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon. Director and Founder of the Memphis Neurosciences Center where he initiated an academic interchange with forty-seven centers in thirty-nine countries. He is the author of numerous medical publications. Since retirement he is on the Voluntary Faculty of the Department of Neurosurgery University of South Florida Medical School in Tampa. He has researched the subject of war and has lectured on it over ninety times. He has been on the boards of Union University, Mars Hill College, and Samford University. He was a bank director for twenty-eight years. He is a 5,258 Hour pilot. He is retired in Apollo Beach, Florida with his wife, Cathy (A former Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes Board member and a Trustee of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.) He retired there after reviewing twenty-five countries and all the states in the United States. Other books with AuthorHouse: Mysteries of the Southern Baptist Beliefs Revealed You live! You Die! Who Decides Faked Disability: A Shame of America Explore the Brain for the Soul Calvin, The Psychopath The One Love

Book preview

Outline

Introduction

The Miller Code of Ethics

The Miller Code of Ethics

Neurosurgical Residency

TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA AND THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF ITS TREATMENT WITH THE REPORT OF AN UNUSUAL CASE

Learning: A System of Threes

Neurosurgery

PATIENTS THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET

Tricks of the Trade

The Business of Neurosurgery

DEVELOPING A NEUROSURGICAL PRACTICE

MY OFFICIAL

INTERNATIONAL LETTERS

A Second Concurrent Career

Summary of Navy Orders (For 59 Years)

160 Orders Until Mandatory Retirement From The Navy

My Retirement Activities From The Active Navy

Summary of 160 Sets of Orders for Mandatory Retirement

And Beyond

Commands and Command Staff Positions

Letters of Commendation

And

Certificates of Appreciation

Letters Of Congratulations When Selected as Rear Admiral

Personal Notes Received Concerning My Selection

To Rear Admiral

Military Medals And Ribbons

A Review Of Some My Notable Experiences With the Navy During the 59 Years

A New Phase of Training, Research, and Military Service

TRAVEL

TRIP TO INDIA AND AROUND THE WORLD 1966

IMPORTANT BOOKS:

My Favorite Songs

Lectures, Speeches, Writings, Teachings

(Religious and Non-Religious)

God’s Love

ISAIAH

LORD of Hosts

The Challenges of Life

The Invasion of Calvinism

God Gives us Amour to Fight Spiritual Battles:

Psalm 139

References:

Biblical Deacons

Biblical Book Of James

Admiral Joe’s Treasures From the Psalms:

Prayer for Veteran’s Day 2005

Amen’s

(In the Bible and Early Writings Concerning Worship

2004

THE BOOK OF II Corinthians

Blessings from the Biblical Gospel of Mark

Perfect and Perfection in the Scriptures

Thoughts for a Better Prayer Life

Married Young People

NON-RELIGIOUS WRITINGS

America, America, Long Live America!

Leadership

We Give Them Our Best 1969

A SURGEON LOOKS AT THE PROBLEMS IN VIETNAM

Brain Death

60th Anniversary of WWII

SPEECH PRESENTED TO SNOWDEN JR. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

THE VALUE OF PATRIOTISM–THEN AND NOW

The Presentation of the Sword and Best Man

Joseph Hardy Miller, III

Eulogy For A Beautiful Lady

Eulogy for Dr. John M. Thompson

Eulogy for Jesse Willard Conwill

Eulogy (A Praise in Speech) for Marvin Herring

Eulogy for Lt. Cmdr. Leonard M. Nelson

Prayer for Veteran’s Day 2005

The Military Person’s Prayer

WORLDLY CERTIFICATIONS

Alliance News

Other Miscellaneous Presentations, Etc.

Epilogue

About the Author

EIGHTY YEARS BEHIND THE MASTS

An Autobiography

How Does One Define Himself?

(Look Through A Window at Yourself.)

Joseph Hardy Miller, Jr.

Rear Admiral Joseph H. Miller

Physician-Neurosurgeon

Teacher of Medicine

Teacher of God’s Word

A Born-Again Christian, Man of Prayer

A Follower and Soldier of Jesus Christ

Bank Director, College Trustee, Author, Pilot, Deacon

All the Other Things I Have Been Called

Admiral Joe, Dr. Joe, Husband, Father, Son, Dad, Granddaddy, Brother, Mentor to My Students, and Friend

My life has been one of working, and learning; read this and you can learn without working. For the young doctor he or she can be stimulated to plan his or her next 30 years. For the young minister there are many life’s sermon illustrations. For the lawyer or judge, life’s purpose, and right from wrong is always revealed. For the military patriot, God will always be with them. For all of us we can learn how to prolong our days. For some of us we can learn a definition of a Broad Mentality. And for a few of us we can learn stimulation, technique, and results of learning.

My Dad taught me, Son, You can always learn something, even if it is what not to do!

Introduction

(The introduction for this book was written sixty-two years ago in 1948.)

1948:

The Great Beyond:

The purpose of this book will be to define the title, as the author would have the reader understand it. In order to understand the content of the ideas presented, it is necessary that the theme be viewed from the mind of a youth or in the mind of an older person who can in some way reverse the thinking of their mind back to the days of their youth and think and dream without the aid or pitfalls of their own experiences. The subtitle of this book when read alone will have different understanding to different people depending particularly on the age of the reader, but also on their surroundings and training thus far. To an elderly Indian "The Great Beyond" would of course mean, The Happy Hunting Ground with the Long Journey yet to come. The religious philosopher would perhaps interpret The Great Beyond as being Heaven. The Christian who knows, dreams, and lives for the promise of God will make this interpretation, which is indeed an excellent one. Within these covers "The Great Beyond" will refer to the time certain young men and young women have before them in this life. If history continues to repeat itself there is a Beyond for all young people, but The Great Beyond is only for a few. Certain questions are discussed:

•   Why just a few?

•   "Am I predestined for a ‘Great Beyond’ "?

•   "What do I need to know to have a ‘Great Beyond’ "?

•   "When does this ‘Great Beyond’begin"?

•   "When will it be too late for me to have a ‘Great Beyond’ "?

The intellectual minds of modern medicine nor the vast expanse of the field of science can not slow down, stop, or reverse one second of the Beyond. Life can only be handled by medical doctors while it is present. The mystery of life is the same secret that it was in the beginning of time. With this in mind it seems fitting to present ones ideas about "The Great Beyond" if it can be obtained by those who know of it in time and who desire the possibilities it presents. This is a challenge to the author’s generation to think on these things for the time is at hand. We are destined for one thing and one thing only. Moral obligations and tremendous responsibilities will soon be ours. If we are prepared it will be a Great Beyond, but if not history will again record a generation that failed not only itself, but also those who taught us and those we will teach.

Consider these ideas with the hope that we all may see The Great Beyond. May God have mercy on those of us who do not. Joe H. Miller, Jr. (In 1948, while at Mars Hill College.)

8 November 2010, sixty-two years later:

The Great Beyond, as we now suppose is from that moment in 1948 unto the end of my days of life on earth. In 1948 I could not write it, but could only live it from moment to moment.

What is a Great Beyond? It is a life of happiness and service.

Sixty-two years later instead of looking toward The Great Beyond, I am now looking back at it. I have seen my Great Beyond. Read on and see a Great Beyond unfold for one person! I challenge you, every young person, to plan and do your own "Great Beyond" Develop a window of yourself for the future. Man is not born, but made. (Erasmus).

Develop a Broad Mentality

I have defined it as a knowledge of:

1.   The Bible, (One is illiterate without a knowledge of the greatest book of all time.)

2.   God

3.   Man

4.   Salvation of man from death.

5.   The Church

6.   The Lord’s Day (Who does not know the meaning of Sunday?)

7.   God’s Kingdom

8.   The Last Things (The end of the world.)

9.   Social Order

10.   War

11.   Religious Liberty

12.   The Family

13.   Education

• a.   Learn from study and experiences

• b.   Their professional qualifications (Doctors, lawyers, ministers, teachers, etc.)

If one does not have some knowledge of these 13 Things they cannot claim to have a Broad Mentality. All knowledge is relative as will be mentioned further in this book. A Broad Mentality will widen your vision of all the things to follow. As one specializes in life they are likely to learn more and more about less and less, and develop a Narrow Mentality.

Why write an autobiography and why commit one to three months of your life after age eighty to do so? All of my life I have asked the question, Why? Forty years ago at the home of a friend he related an action. (I do not remember what). I asked him, Why? He replied, Why? Why? Why? Do you always have to ask the question ‘Why’ on ever issue? He was obviously not tuned into the Why of Things. This person does not care about why or even why not? Last year I heard the question asked, Why do you go to see the Swiss Alps? The thoughtful answer was, Because they are there.

Why write an autobiography? I can say that after one puts their life on paper the reasons will be clear. My life has been one of working and learning. One can read my autobiography and learn without working. One of my many messages is that everyone should do it. If you do not your beliefs, knowledge, experience, and your life’s message will die with you. Sooner or later in life each of us will wonder the questions,

•   Where did I come from?

•   What made me what I am?

•   Have I made my family name better?

•   Is the world better off because of me?

•   Am I going to die face down in the ground or be looking up to the sky?

•   As one gets older their body slows down, but is my mind slowing done or running faster?

One of the many traditions of the American Indian was to put their old people in an empty Hogan, which is a round hut with a hole in the top and as they starved to death their spirits would go through the top and find the spirits in Heaven. (Today we get on disability when we are not disabled and our spirits are on their own and leave us to wherever? We don’t care where!)

Writing an 800 page autobiography forces one to become a philosopher with many of life’s questions. Do you catch up with old age or does old age catch up with you? Do you keep everyone around you so busy that they will be glad when you are gone? My secretaries used to call my wife (both of them loved me in their own way) and say, Please take him out of town so we can catch up! I will never voluntarily allow old age to catch up with me, but it does not fight fair because I can feel its weakening close behind.

The best way to make enemies is to be religious and to speak and write about it. Herman Melville in Moby Dick asks an interesting question, Would you rather sleep with a sober cannibal or a drunkern Christian? Pick any of the 138 religions in the world almanac and they are all potential enemies. The Baptists of which there are over hundred different kinds are second only to the Muslims and Catholics as potential enemies. (In the London telephone book I counted over one thousand churches with different names. There were none listed as Southern Baptists.) Flavius Josephus was named after Emperor Flavius Vespasianus, who later became Emperor as predicted by Josephus. Josephus was opposed to the Jewish war with the Romans because he knew they would lose. He fought with the Jews as a commander. Vespasian, a commander for the Romans liked Josephus and gave him the courtesy of a valuable prisoner. When Vespasian became emperor he gave him his freedom, a life pension, and two large estates. He also freed over one hundred of his friends. The Jews and most Romans did not like him. Josephus wrote an autobiography (Vitae, his life) with 76 sections trying to vindicate himself. In his own time he was not popular. Outside the Bible Josephus is by far the most important historical source of the entire Biblical era. He gives 300 times more information about Herod the Great and ten times more about Pontius Pilate. Josephus provides fascinating perspectives on Biblical characters such as Archelaus. Herod Antipas, the two Argippas, Felix, Festus, John the Baptist and Jesus’ half brother, James. He also quotes many eyewitnesses to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Soon after Josephus died he was honored with a statue in Rome. If one wants to know about the Jewish race they must read his, "The History of the Jews." He traces their history from Adam to the Jewish revolt in 66 A.D. If you read Josephus’ complex autobiography (Vita) you will be happy to return to mine!

Why? Learn what will prolong your days.

The Promises of God that will prolong your days:

1.   Keep my commandments. (Deuteronomy 6:2; Proverbs 4:4, 10)

2.   Learn my sayings. (Proverbs 4:10)

3.   Get understanding and wisdom. (Proverbs 3:13, 16)

Learn what will bring:

1.   Happiness or a merry heart. (Proverbs 3:13, 15:15)

2.   Honor (Proverbs 4:8)

3.   Glory (Proverbs 4:9)

The Bottom Line:

In the first book of the Bible God says, I am with thee and will keep thee in all places where you go… (Genesis 28:15)

God’s faithful ones are preserved forever. (Psalms 37:28)

God will deliver me and preserve me for His Heavenly Kingdom. (II Timothy 4:18)

Why does a boy want to kiss a girl? Why does a girl want a boy to kiss her? My limited research on this reveals that they both want a kiss for different reasons. Since this is my autobiography I am not going to explore that question extensively. I will tell you that many Orientals do not like to kiss. The first kiss was by the Neanderthal men who were searching for salt on their girlfriend’s face. I will tell you that salt was very valuable at that time. Men would kill for a kiss. I assume because they would die without salt.

The only invention that I know that I created before anyone else is what I call the Fish Kiss. This is accomplished by tucking your cheeks with the circular muscles around your mouth so that the effect becomes pointed lips resembling a fish. With the lips strongly pulled together so they are pointed forward make small slow jerky movements with the lips. Have your girlfriend or wife do the same thing. Then touch your lips together and you will feel a dry nibble that sends sensation through each of you like a tickle. It is impossible to do and not laugh. This can be done with very little experience and it is perfectly safe. Keep in mind that I am not writing about you. This is an autobiography so I am writing about me, but it is also for you. If you don’t know about the Fish Kiss you are missing a part of my life. I have only practiced it on Cathy, my wife, and she seems to love everything I do.

Can you believe I started an 800 pages plus book with the story of a Fish Kiss? I can’t. The rational is to psychologically prepare the reader for the fact that this is written for me and not the reader. I challenge each of you to write your autobiography. It will open up your world that you have made for yourself. As I was making my world I felt I was just sailing through it. Looking back it looks like a world of day-to-day survival. I have worked all my life since I was a small boy. I had a 40 hour per week job at night my freshmen year in medical school. I worked every third night the other years. In my forty years of practice, twenty-three of these years, I did not take a trip that was not professionally deductible and always satisfied the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). I wrote eight medical papers during my neurosurgical residency. Read on, this is the story of a man who worked, but more important for the young reader, it is a story to show you what you can do if you plan and work for your plan.

Now back to the question, why write an autobiography?

In the last 40 years I have spoken to more than twenty-five Rotary Clubs and other clubs, etc. I have met Navy aces, the submarine commander that sank more tonnage in WWII than anyone else, and a pilot whose chute did not open at 20,000 feet. (In the dark he hit the steep slant of a heavily covered snow mountain and slid down the slope until he stopped unhurt.) The doctor that did more neurosurgical operations than anyone else in World War II was searched for after the war and found completing his last year of neurosurgical residency. This experience has been lost by his death. There are many stories of heroes that will die with them. I proposed to my Rotary Club and others that historical documents be developed. It was never done. In all of my Sunday School Classes through the years I have asked godly men to write a short story of their life for their family. I asked them to write their deepest beliefs so they would not die and this information be unknown to their families. I know of this being done only once on my urging and that was more history than personal beliefs. These things should be written down and preserved for the family. Generations come and go. We may be in part of two generations and by the third one not be remembered by anyone. Many great events, beliefs, and actions may have eternal results in Heaven, but not be remembered on earth. What can a man create that lasts forever? - A book or A song!

Our family will never know us, our hearts, our dreams, and our beliefs by visits on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Christmas only. My advice to all that read this is to write something so that your beliefs will pass through more than just your generation. They deserve it.

Writing my autobiography has been on my mind for years, but situations and at the request of many friends and family I am now inspired to do it. May God be glorified. At my age I do not care about personal glory. I have had more than I need. I got over the ego trip years ago. Write for others!

Now for the end of the story on why? It has forced me to look at myself and I can keep the good and throw the other away.

In the process of leaving your words to your family be sure they are Born Again Christians truly saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.

The rich man in Hell was able to communicate with Abraham who was in Heaven. He wanted to warn his brothers about Hell. Abraham refused and replied it would do them no good now. If they do not hear Moses or the One raised from the dead neither will they be persuaded. (Luke 16:27-31) This is reasonable since Hell and the way to get there is clearly described in God’s Word and related by many of God’s spokesman. There is no information to suggest that anyone in Heaven has ever wanted to communicate with anyone in Hell. In Heaven all is joyous and happy therefore, if your loved family goes to Hell, God has worked it out so that you will not even know it. Everyone is happy in Heaven because they have no knowledge of family members in Hell. So alert them before they go!

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Rear Admiral and Mrs. Joseph H. Miller (Cathy)

Joseph H. Miller, Jr. Genealogy (Back to Adam and Eve)

Where Did I Come From?

Isaac Miller my great, great, great, great-grandfather was born in Ireland, about 1775, and died in Tennessee in 1806. He appears to have been married twice, but the name of his second wife or any record pertaining to her has not been found. His first wife was Margaret with whom he migrated to America about 1781 and settled in Western Pennsylvania. He and his first wife had nine children.

Matthew Miller, my great, great, great-grandfather was born in Pennsylvania about 1784 and died at Millersburg, Rutherford County, Tennessee, in 1813. He married in 1799, Mary Frances Johnson (who was called Polly).

Hardy Miller, my great, great-grandfather was born in 1803 and died in 1857, he married twice: first in 1820 to Sarah Taylor; second on February 11, 1839 to Sallie Mayfield. He died at Millersburg, Tennessee. By the first marriage he had seven children. By his second marriage he had eight children. My great, great-grandmother was by his second wife, Sallie Mayfield Miller.

Hardy Hindman Miller, my great-grandfather was born September 22, 1852 and he died April 28, 1881. He married Hattie Lucretia Gregory on February 22, 1872.

Hardy E. Miller, my grandfather was born January 26, 1875. He married Della May Crawford on August 8, 1902. They had four children including my father.

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(Front Row Left to Right) Joseph H. Miller, (My father)

Hardy E. Miller (My Grandfather) Horach Aytch Miller, Della Mae Crawford Miller, (My Grandmother)

(Back Row Left to Right) Allie Faye Miller Myracle, her husband, Jap, Bird and Ray Miller.

Joseph Hardy Miller, my father, was born on December 26, 1907. He married my mother Leta Elsie Caddell who was born March 12, 1908, in Electra, Wise County, Texas. My father died on May 16, 1977 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery, listed on the National Historic Register, in the Miller plot on Miller Circle just as you enter the cemetery. Mother died August 27, 1989 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, and is buried next to Dad in the Miller plot, at Elmwood Cemetery.

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Joseph Hardy Miller, Jr. was born on April 9, 1930 in Thrift, Texas. He married Netta Sue Caudill on 30 January 1950 and again on 30 March 1950. They had six children: Leta Fern, born August 17, 1954, in Augusta, Georgia; Joseph Hardy Miller, III born July 27, 1955, in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, (He died March 10, 1973 and is buried in the Miller Plot at Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee); Paul Caudill, was born February 13, 1957, in Memphis, Tennessee; David Dwight was born November 5, 1958, in Memphis, Tennessee, (He died February 10, 2003, in Greenville, South Carolina and is buried in a private cemetery in Vilas, North Carolina; Netta Sue, was born September 30, 1960, in Bethesda, Maryland; and Angelique Amie was born April 30, 1965, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Miller Children, Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren

Netta Sue Miller Hill, (Mark William Hill), Children: Katherine Elizabeth Katie Hill Fields (Judson); Amanda Kelley Hill; Matthew William Hill.

Leta–Fern Miller Bickers, (Michael) Children: Lincoln Caudill Stillwagon; and Gary Bolden (Bo) Stillwagon.

Paul Caudill Miller, Children: Joseph Hardy Miller Jody (Neurosurgeon) Kristin, and Great-Grandson Joseph Wyatt Miller; Paul Caudill Miller (Jamie Grace); Rachel Becton Miller Wizenecker, (Philip) and Great-Granddaughter, Hellen.

Angelique Amie Miller Tyler, (Kenneth Wood Kenny Tyler) Children: Tiffany Lauren; Julia Rose; and Daniel Oakley Tyler

David Dwight Miller, (deceased) (Robyn Baskin Miller) Children: Joshua Robinson Miller, (Kristina Marie), Great-Granddaughters, Jeyda Raye, and Abbey Marie; Hannah Marie Miller King (Michael); Ruth Alderton Miller; William Elijah Miller; Miriam Elizabeth Miller; and Charles Noah Miller

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My Children:

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My stepson, John Nathan Bedford Copeland, M.D.

My second wife, Cathy Gail Parker, was born March 21, 1948 in Vina, Alabama. We were married on October 13, 1979. We have no children, but I have a stepson, Dr. John Nathan Bedford Copeland, born May 27, 1970, in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee.

I was born 9 April 1930. This was the time of President Herbert Clark Hoover, a Republican, engineer, and a humanitarian. One year after he was elected the stock market crashed and the economy collapsed in 1929. That makes me a product of the Great Depression. It was a time of peace between World War I and World War II.

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Joe and mother at about age six months

So it befell under the times of Joe H. Miller, Sr. and Leta Elsie Caddell Miller at home in Thrift, Texas, where I became a viable and hungry human being, a trait from which I have never recovered. (The only time I am not hungry is immediately after a big meal.) I have never seen a salad that I liked. Only recently after my wife put me on a terminal diet. (My term since all diets once started seem to be forever.) I have begun eating salads after which I do not feel that I have really eaten.

It is better to rise from the humble, than to fall from the pedestal. The leaders of progress arise from the masses. Jesus had compassion on the masses. (Matthew 8:36, 15:32, 20:34) We must rise to render service to the world. Life begins without a GPS (Global Positioning System) as we begin our first steps to a journey that either ends in Heaven or Hell. We are guided by our parents, education, instinct, intuition, and God if we are a Christian. Life is full of ignorance and charlatans. We think and wonder at the things we see, and we fight and struggle with them until our steps fail with age. I never thought age could catch up with me, but it has. Our mother slaps us on the bottom as we complete the painful struggle into the world. In the end we lay our heads on a divine pillow of faith and hope for an eternity of bliss, joy, love, happiness, and righteousness. We leave our generation and whatever we made it behind. Civilization is made up of thousands of pioneers and working people as we are. We hope that our education and search for truth, trust, and faith has given us the knowledge and fortitude to make our world at least a little better than we found it. As we cruise toward the horizon we still see vestiges of ignorance.

Biblical Illiteracy is everywhere. We have blinded vision in the lives of our so-called human religious leaders. Religious politics have overtaken man’s search for truth and purity. We know where we came from, but we do not know where we are going. The fast rate of Christian growth has left our country and gone to South America, Asia, India, and Africa. Our Manifest Destiny is no longer in our vision. We have ignored the changing complexity of the world with nine new countries with independence and nine with atomic weapons. Our Christian efforts do not show that we have the desire and efforts to maintain self-preservation. In our country and in most countries of the world Christians are losing in numbers. Ancient man depended on the change of the seasons. Modern man does not see the changes of man. We see the rose, but not the thorns. The good part of our forefathers and founders of our country were above us. The thorns that are destroying us all say it is their right to destroy us. Our leadership in past times only feared their wives. Now they fear their shadows. To know man as God’s creation is to know God. God says He will direct our paths and light them. (Psalms 119:105, 16: 11; Proverbs 3:6) God’s shadow is light. If you walk with God you will always be in the light.

Adam and Eve: The Ancestors of All People. (Genesis 5:1)

Our ancestry starts with Adam and Eve. Adam means a man or all people. Eve is the Hebrew word for living, but it refers only to the first woman. The best source of genealogy is from Dr. Luke. It starts with Luke 3:38 and goes backwards to Luke 3:23. God’s Creation: Adam is described as the Son of God. (Luke 3:38) There is no way that he could have been recreated with the concept man called, the Original sin. The genealogy proceeds through Seth, Enos, Cain, Maleleel, Jared, Enoch, Mathusala, Lamech, Noah, Sem, Arphaxad, Cainan, Sala, Heber, Phalec, Ragau, Saruch, Nachor, Thara, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Juda, Phares, Esrom, Aram, Aminadab, Naasson, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David, Nathan, Mattatha, Menan, Melea, Eliakim, Jonan, Joseph, Juda, Simeon, Levi, Matthat, Jorim, Eliezer, Jose, Er, Elmodam, Cosam, Addi, Melchi, Neri, Salathiel, Zorobabel, Rhesa, Joanna, Juda, Joseph, Semei, Mattathias, Maath, Nagge, Esli, Naum, Amos, Mattathias, Joseph, Janna, Melchi, Levi, Matthat, Heli, and Joseph, the virgin Mary’s husband.

It continues through the Patriarchs. (The Patriarchs date is uncertain, but probably between 2000–1500 B.C. and goes from Abraham to the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel), the last being Joseph.) It continues with Methuselah, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and Salmon who married Rahab (the harlot, Joshua 2:1). Their son Boaz was the rich man who married Ruth. Boaz and Ruth begat Obed, who begat Jesse, the father of King David. (This was the 32nd generation from Adam and Eve.)

The kings of Judah and Israel.

The Twenty Kings of Judah (and Benjamin) [I have underlined the good kings. All the others were bad kings and did evil in the sight of the LORD.] Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. (There were only eight good kings out of the twenty.)

The Nineteen Kings of Israel (Ten Northern Tribes)

There were no good kings in the nineteen kings of Israel. (931 B.C.-712 B.C.) They include: Jeroboam I, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea. Of the total of thirty-nine kings of both groups only eight were good and these were all among the kings of Judah. The Israel and Judah lineage ended in 722 B.C. and 586 B.C. respectably.

The Millers of Tennessee:

The Millers of Tennessee mainly under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. Gustavus Hindman Miller published a book at a great cost of $38,000 in 1922. The book was titled, The Millers of Millersburg. Millersburg refers to Millersburg, Tennessee. We visited Millersburg, which is east of Murfreesboro. We only saw a church with a Millersburg Cemetery, which seemed to be the only remnant left. Two and a half miles west of Millersburg is Christina, Tennessee where several of the Millers lived. The Millers that financed the book were the Millers of the Miller’s Department Store in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (I am told that it no longer exists.) Many years ago I visited the Miller’s Department Store in Chattanooga. I asked if there were any Millers around. The nice gray-headed lady clerk told me that Skip Miller was over in the appliance store across the street. When I met him he was wearing a sport shirt. We had a pleasant conversation. I informed him that my Millersburg book given to me by my father was worn out. I inquired if there were any more copies left. He called one of his men over and asked him to go look in a certain corner of the warehouse. He returned in a few minutes with seven copies still wrapped in airtight waxy paper. He gave them to me and would not accept any payment. They were like new. I have given several of my children a copy. The person who has read it the most by far is my wife, Cathy of thirty-one years. She, I have said many times, is more Miller than most Millers. I would gladly give my life for her a million times.

The book traces the Millers to King Egbert of Wessex. (800-836 A.D.) Alfred the Great, King of England, (841-901), Edmund I, King of England (940-946) Edgar, King of England, (958-975), Ethedred II, King of England, (970-1016), [He married lady Godiva’s sister.), Edmund, Ironsides, King of England, (1016), Matilda, Queen of England 1100 and married Henry I, King of England (the son of William the Conqueror). The following are other kings of England, Henry II, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III. Henry IV, Henry VII (first of the House of Tudor), Henry VIII (His six marriages is a record.) Mary I, (Bloody Mary), Queen Elizabeth (the last in the House of Tudor.) The Act of Settlement of 1701 orders that a Catholic cannot sit upon the throne of England. There are numerous other people in the Miller genealogy in England who were Dukes and Earls, etc., but it ends with the founder of the House of Hanover, the present Royal Family and the Millers begin. The Millers of Millersburg, book character Nancy Tennessee Jameson married Gustavus Hindman Miller on January 23, 1879. The 1922 Prince of Wales named himself, "Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor. He used the name of all the kings in his lineage to name himself. They tell the story of David, king of Israel to David, king of Windsor. (David to David) I could do this and call myself, Robert Matthew John Isaac William James Cassey Raleigh Charles Benjamin Newton Clyde Percy Hardy Felix Cleburn Eliza Peter Willie Jesse Calvin Eloy Alfred Horace Joseph Miller.

As far as I know the Millers have never been found in any archeological diggings, but even better Thomas R. Miller from Tennessee died in the Alamo.

I must admit that one can note the extensive research that I have done on the Millers revealed several ministers, one other doctor, (my brother). Also the Millers have fought in all the wars of our country, but I did not decipher a single saint. (My father, my mother, and my wife, Cathy, are saints to me.)

Thrift Texas: My Birth

Newton, Texas became Waggoner, Texas and Waggoner, Texas became Thrift, Texas. In 1919 sidewalk gunfights filled the sidewalks at least once a month in Newton. In the Wichita Falls Times Michelle Locke, staff writer, wrote: VANISHED, blood once ran in busy streets of small Newton. In 1919 police roundups of the lawless elements in the boomtown life bubbled to the surface. Gunshots and the bawdy cries of gamblers and saloon-goers caught up in the excess of the frantic scramble for oil riches. On 29 December, 1919 a posse of officials and a gambling gang exchanged gunfire in a back alley. Eight men were arrested and held in jail for gambling. There had been 56 arrests in Newton that month. Twenty women pleaded guilty to vagrancy" charges.

The next day was the famous great shootout of 30 December 1919 where five robbers took $180.00 from a meat market. A hidden guard shot one in the brain and another he shot died the next day. There were blotches of blood all along the route of battle. Two escaped, but were arrested the next day. One got away and is still alive as far as we know! Watch out! Ninety-one year olds can still be dangerous!

George Armstrong Custer said, Ride to the sound of the guns. My father, a Baptist minister, must have said, Ride to the sound of sin (to be a witness for Christ) and he moved to Thrift, Texas, where I was born. In the early days oil derricks lined the streets of Newton surrounded by clapboard shanties. The oil dried up and Newton-Waggoner-Thrift also failed and completely petered out by the early 1950’s. There was a bridge over the river on a hill. The newspaper report says that the Model T’s and the Model A’s had to back up to get over the hill and the bridge.

The house where I was born was torn down and the Thrift Baptist Church was built in its place. The church building was picked up and moved to Burkburnett, Texas. This is the only remnant of Thrift, Texas. They built a service station on the lot where the church was. There is no record of what happened to the service station. My birth certificate is the only historical record that proves that I am also a remnant of Thrift, Texas. So here it is, take it or leave it.

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Religious songs written by men born in 1930: Name of all Majesty, by Michael Boughen; Lord, Here Am I, by John Ness Beck (Words by Fanny J. Crosby 1820-1915) and four songs by Wesley LM Forbus; Break Out, O Church of God, Creator of the Universe, O God of Prophets, Known of Old, Go with God, The King of Glory Comes by Willard F. Jabusch, Holy Holy by Jimmy Owens and Go Now in Peace by Natalie Sleeth

Other Happenings in 1930 Were:

•   The first radio broadcast of the Lone Ranger (The famous William Tell Overture of Rossini, also known as the theme to The Lone Ranger) (My baby music must have been Hi Ho Silver. I can still hear it. )

•   The first red and green traffic lights were installed (they did not have cameras).

•   The Supreme Court rules that buying liquor does not violate the constitution (The Baptists pay no attention to this and only 60% of Baptist ministers say buying liquor violates the Bible.)

•   The first scheduled transcontinental air service began (no meals, only prayer books)

•   Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood

•   Constantinople is renamed Istanbul (From Christian to Greek to Islam)

•   Germany bans the film, All Quiet on the Western Front

•   Emigration from the United States exceeds immigration to the United States

• (Religious freedom was not cut out like it was supposed to be.)

•   The Blondie comic strip begins (It is still going today)

•   Frozen foods are first sold commercially

•   The U.S. Open winner is Bobby Jones (and short pants arrived. They have returned.)

•   Alabama and Notre Dame are college football champions

•   The Miss America Beauty Pageant begins (With such poor records how could they prove they were not married?)

•   Twinkies cakes and Snickers candy are invented

•   Gasoline is 10 cents a gallon

•   The U.S. postage stamp for a letter is 2 cents

•   Famous people born in 1930, were astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and actors; Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, and Steve McQueen.

•   Music in 1930: "I can Dream Can’t I", (Tommy Dorsey), "Happy Days Are Here Again", (Benny Meroff), "Strike Up the Band", (Red Nichols)

I was born without man’s concept of the original sin, which is not in the Bible. Adam was the Son of God. (Luke 3:38) The snake (the Devil or Satan was thrown out of Heaven) could not implant an Original Sin in Adam because the Devil was the Original Sin. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.(Ephesians 1:4) This is before Adam and Eve. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.(Ephesians 2:10) And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:(Ephesians 3:9) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20) Godhead in this verse means Divine Nature". (For more on Sin, see my book "Explore the Brain for the Soul", 2008, pp. 111-119.)

My entry into the world at home was in Thrift, Texas. I have used this experience to ask the question, Are half-truths, truth or not? The house where I was born was torn down and in its place a church was built. Is this a truth, half-truth, or no truth? The church building was moved to Burkburnett and a service station was built in its place. It sounds better from my point of view to stop the story at the church. What do you think? Is truth always the truth? Is a half-truth a truth? I could now say, I was born in the same lot as a church, and leave off the service station.

The doctor who delivered me did not charge my parents for the home delivery. Dad hoped to be a minister, but at the time he was a welder of large oil tanks. The doctor who delivered me sent me presents upon graduation from High School, College, and Medical School. I guess my survival in Thrift surprised him.

This gets more interesting. I cannot prove the place of my birth. Thrift, Texas was absorbed by Burkburnett, Texas. Every time I was promoted in the Navy, the FBI came to see me because there is no such place as Thrift, Texas. The only evidence that I know of that Thrift ever existed is on my birth certificate. The FBI never pursued this any further.

When I was five years old I have a fairly clear memory of a doctor who immediately relieved me a severe earache. (He must have opened the eardrum to allow pus to escape.) I said to myself, I am going to be a doctor.

My mother gave me a book by Harvey Cushing, the father of neurosurgery, when I was age 15. I read it and from that time on my objective was to be a brain surgeon. In the back part of this book is a section concerning the writings of Cathy, my wife, She lists 29 great men influenced by their mother.

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When my dad was young he was a welder. (He worked in a big factory welding huge steel tanks together that would hold gas.) These steel plates were extremely heavy. Sometimes people were killed or had their extremities and or fingers or toes cut off when one of these fell.My Dad was the valedictorian at Electra and he also won the state debating championship. (The metal and trophy he won is still at the school.)

With great gusto I was telling Dad about a famous, great man that was to visit me. When I finished with the introduction Dad said, Joe, Is he a good man?

Dad always said, Joe, You can’t out give God.

Dad said, The Bible is the book that speaks. It is God speaking to us. God said He created the earth and all that is in it. Anyone who believes in evolution is defying the Word of God. (Most modern judges are heretics.)

The most important message from Dad is the way he lived his life. Dad got his strength from reading his Bible and through prayer. He read the entire Bible at least 88 times in his last few years.

If he saw something that needed to be done he just did it whether he was at his house or at my house. Dad was the only person I ever met who made it a point to not want material things. He was happy with what he had, (Material things were not important to him.) At Christmas or his birthday we would give him shirts or ties or other clothing. Many times he did not even take them out of the box. I gave him an expensive sport coat and he did not wear it for a year and then only after I asked him about it.

He treated everyone the same. He saw no difference between a famous Senator and the person who picked up the trash or mowed the grass. Dad loved to worship. He would go anywhere, anytime there was a worship service near him. He loved to teach the Bible. He taught a radio Bible class in Memphis for many years. (I think sometime between 1965 and 1975.) He loved to preach. He loved to hear other preachers preach.

Dad also had three careers. He was a pastor, a college president, and a chaplain at a Penal Farm. I remember him saying his work at the Penal Farm was his greatest work. He rendered a great service to the prisoners by escorting them home in emergencies, funerals, etc. He called me at my office one day and said, Joe, I have a prisioner here who needs your services. You are not to charge him! I said, O.K. Dad, send him to my office.

He had two other things he wanted to do in his life:

1.   Catch a sailfish

2.   Go to the Holy Land

I took him to Acapulco to catch a sailfish and Richard, my brother, took him to the Holy Land.

On the boat in Acapulco one of the two diesel engines stopped and in a few minutes the second engine stopped. Richard and I were both sea sick. Dad was up on the deck with a large fishing pole and was trying to land his sailfish. He hollered below, Boys get out of the bed and come up here and help me catch this fish. I need help bad. He had been wrestling with the fish trying to land it for 30 minutes. Richard and I were so sick that we were afraid that we were not going to die!

My brother, Dr. Richard Dwight Miller, (doctor of medicine) was born at home in Henderson, Texas on 30 December 1931. I was twenty-one months of age when he was born. It was many years before I knew where he came from. He was getting all the attention and I think I wanted to send him back.

I have very few memories of my early childhood. Some of them may not be chronological. I started to school in Electra, Texas. After heavy rains we were unable to get into town because we lived two miles out of town on a clay dirt road. In the first grade at the beginning of school mother let me out at the front door of the school. She then went on an errand to the grocery store. I ran through the school and was home just before mother got home. She said, What are you doing here? I said, I have already learned it all! She took me back to school immediately and introduced me to the teacher. At that point I knew I had lost the battle. (No more tadpole fishing for me or trying to put salt on the tail of a quail so I could catch it. I was forced to leave the country where I knew no sin to the city where I learned to sin!) I remember my teacher, Mrs. Saddler, well. She was beautiful and in a sense I am still in love with her.

My First Craniotomy operation was actually a headectomy:

This happened before Richard and I started to school. I caught a chicken and put its head under a bucket. I had Richard sit on the bucket. I was trying to pull the chicken’s head off by pulling on the chicken’s legs. Richard kept crying and screaming. Mother heard Richard and went to check on him because she thought I was doing something to Richard. Then she started to scream. I finally pulled the head off the chicken and all was well, except for the chicken.

The next memory I have is playing in a sand box with the daughter of a prominent family in town. She enjoyed pulling the top of her bathing suit down and showing me her small breasts. I still don’t understand the point she was trying to make. Next I remember winning the school-chinning contest by chinning 13 times. I was a little chubby I guess, but since then 13 has always been my lucky number.

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In the third grade I played on the football team. We only had one play. As the fullback I ran with the ball through the middle of the line each time. I could always make at least three yards.

My next memory includes a trip to the World’s Fair in New York in 1939 and to the San Francisco World’s Fair in 1940. We drove from Texas to both places with stops along the way.

Dad was a part-time minister during his training close to Electra at Kamay, Texas. We would always be invited to lunch at someone’s home on Sunday. One family had horses and they frequently invited us. We loved it. It is where I learned to ride. I remember that I was running to jump on a horse and he kicked me in the stomach. I rolled over several feet doubled up, but I recovered quickly unhurt. Believe it or not, I can still see the bottom of the horses hoof coming at me like lightening.

I will never forget a story that Dad told me about a member of the Kamay Baptist Church. The man was very firm and unforgiving with his children. At a certain time he finally and reluctantly let his son drive his car. His son had an accident that was not his fault. He had a gun in the car and on the spot he killed himself, so that he would not have to confront his Dad. After that his dad changed, but he never got over this!! I repeatedly told my children, A car is a car and a car can easily be repaired or replaced. An accident is an accident. If one is not injured it is a blessing. Don’t worry one second about it!

Another story that I have told with the question, Can a man ever get over this? I was in the Emergency Room one morning seeing one of my patients. The nurse hurried in the room and asked me to see the patient in the next room. It was a gray haired older looking 65-year-old woman. She took one breath and died. I looked into her eyes at her retina. There were diffuse hemorrhages revealing that she had had a brain hemorrhage. In a few seconds the husband arrived, the nurse asked me to speak with him. I introduced myself and told him that the nurse had asked me to see his wife. I told him that his wife had had a massive brain hemorrhage and that she was dead. What followed was one of the most unusual experiences of my life. This 6’4 big, rough looking man grabbed me by the lapels of my white coat and said, Doctor, Doctor! He then bent over and banged his big fist on the floor. It felt like it shook the building. He raised up and said, Doctor, Doctor, I balled her out and slammed the door when I left this morning! Can that man ever get over that? I have asked the question many times. Most people say, No! A few good Christians have said, Yes, through God one can receive forgiveness. Some others have said, Even with God’s forgiveness it will be a ‘knife in his heart’ as long as he lives. (The moral to the story is, If you beat up your wife in the morning apologize before you leave!")

While Dad was in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas he had a church in Cleburne, Texas. I have only three memories from Cleburne. There was a boy one year ahead of me in school that was called sissy. He was very white skinned and flabby. (In retrospect he probably had some hormone deficiency such as hypothyroidism.) Nevertheless after one fight I established myself as his protector. His family was forever grateful to me. He loved me dearly and followed me everywhere.

The second experience involves a horse we were not supposed to ride, but we did anyway. We got on him without a saddle or a bridle with only a rope around his neck. Things were going well until about a mile away from his barn and the horse decided to go home. He began to run down a gravel road. With my friend on the horse behind me I realized I was going to fall off. I elected to have a controlled fall on my hands, but I did not anticipate my friend falling off and landing on my head knocking my head into the rough gravel road. My whole face was scrapped and bleeding. I ran home with my friend behind me. I had no good skin on my face, but it healed after several weeks. (I have never blamed my looks on this event.)

The third experience that I had in Cleburne is one that I remember clearly including all the details. I have no memories more clear to me than this. It was the time that I gave my heart to the Lord. It was Sunday afternoon after church. I was home alone in 1942. I felt suddenly a horrible feeling. I ran out to the garage into our workroom. I was trapped by something invisible. It suddenly occurred to me that it was God convicting me. The horrible feeling was that I was lost and a sinner and going to Hell. I prayed and asked to be saved. I immediately felt a joy that seemed to light up the whole world. Dad baptized me at Southside Baptist Church in Cleburne, Texas. (I have pictures of me being previously baptized in an irrigation canal in Kamay, Texas, but I have no memory of it whatsoever.) I have never doubted my salvation for one second as I have heard that some people have. I know that God paid the price for my sins and I will fly to Heaven to my mansion and see all my family and friends. I have bragged about having questions when I get to Heaven, but an old Christian friend reminded me that I would know it all in Heaven; there will be no questions.

World War II:

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An Army recruiter came to Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and pleaded for chaplains among the Seminary students. They were told that even though they had not graduated they would qualify in the Army as a chaplain with a commission as 2nd Lieutenant. Dad felt he had to go. He said men were dying without Christ and without spiritual support. Dad’s first duty station was at Boston (Harvard) for military and chaplain training. The whole family was excited. Any need that Dad ever saw for a fellow human being he would try to supply it.

As noted in the beginning, my stories are not necessarily in chronological order. While Dad was stationed in August, Georgia, at Fort Gordon we lived in an old neighborhood. Our house was across the street from one of the fraternity houses of the medical school (Years later when I came back there as a medical student I was a member of that fraternity.) I also had a newspaper route in the area. I folded my papers early in the morning at a firehouse. A gang had attacked several of the paperboys. I was not really worried because I had stayed in good physical condition. I showed one of the firemen a knife that I had to protect myself. I will never forget what he said, Put away that knife because if the gang attacks you they will make you eat it. In a small town fights were fair fights and sometimes even allowed on the school grounds. This was my first exposure to the modern concept of kill or be killed.

They sent me to a local military school called Richmond Academy in Augusta. I remember very little of this experience. I was told to expect an initiation at the Academy. When a new cadet started walking down the hall in the basement where the lockers were the students would be lined up on both sides of the hall. As the new person entered the area one of the students pushed the new student to the other side of the hall and another student pushed him back for the next person to give him a push. When they started this I hit the second person with a strong right punch. He turned his head to the right, but he did not retreat backwards and I caught him with a solid punch on his left cheek. He fell back against the lockers. I backed against the lockers ready for whatever. There was a standoff and one of the boys in a friendly way said we were just having a little fun for your initiation. I said nothing, but picked up my books and went to my locker.

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Joe at Richmond Academy, Augusta, Georgia

The following is an incident that made me famous. I was late to math class. The teacher severely reprimanded me and said, You must have been raised in a barn. I sat down and put my face in my hands and pretended to be crying. The teacher said, I didn’t mean to upset you so much. I said, That’s O.K., but every time I see a mule I get homesick. He took me immediately to the office. After a discussion the principal said that he was going to let the matter drop because he should not have accused me of being raised in a barn and my father was a military officer. I was selected as the student calisthenics instructor. I could do push-ups until all hundred of my fellow students could not raise their stomachs off the ground.

At Richmond Academy I broke my shoulder the first week of football season. My coach took me to the Emergency Room and left me. My parents were out of town. I was in pain, but I was not seen for four hours. My parents arrived home and came after me. Little did I know that about six years later I would be in medical school in the same building?

The only other memories I have of that time includes when I was in love with a girl name Jean. I never asked her for a date. I’m not sure if it was because I was too busy or too timid. I do remember one time being invited to a girl’s house and we did some heavy smooching in her living room.

Dad was transferred to Camp Stewart in Hinesville, Georgia. There were so many military in the area that there was a shortage of places to rent in a fifty mile area. Dad preached part-time in Ludowici, Georgia, which was close to Camp Stewart. They allowed us to live in the church parsonage. I have very few memories there. I remember hitting a home run in a local baseball game, which I am sure, was purely a lucky hit. Also I remember while pitching one night in the middle of the game while I was on the mound I heard a car spin off the road and drive right up to first base. Dad jumped out of the car and grabbed me. He said, Don’t you know we are having a revival meeting this week. I made it to the front row of the church in my baseball uniform just before the sermon

Reviews for Eighty Years Behind the Masts

[Holly Noel Brocato · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I need to get a physical copy of this book! I am the daughter of Horace Aytch Miller, Jr.