Fred L. Miller, age 75, of Gore, VA, died Friday, October 18, 2013, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD).

He was a long way from home. He got to the Charm City from the lovely Shenandoah Valley by medevac helicopter piloted by a veteran Army Blackhawk pilot and accompanied by two hot EMTs: one each, blonde and brunette.

My pal Annie thought he was going to live, since that was the opinion of the physicians in Winchester. She took pictures thinking she would have fun teasing him about pimping his ride, his last as it turns out.

I was stunned when I got the news. I am one of Annie’s kids, part of a long extended family over whom she bestowed love and kindness (and a certain stern discipline, when required).

We were the crowd back in the bullpen, the nestled desks of the Office of Legislative Affairs arranged in open rows. No cubes for us, just desks and computers and a fractious Congress to deal with. I have no idea how I got there, but the usual candidate for a job in OLA was a certain flair for human relations, mastery of a warfare skill in Aviation, or Surface Line or Submarines, or part of the infrastructure that keeps the Navy bounding across the waves. Communications. Logistics. Even Spooks.

Anyway, as you well know, the Executive Branch cannot lobby the Congress. That is illegal. What we did was provide necessary services to the members, Committees of Authorization, and their key staff. In other words, we had the opportunity to serve as travel agents for all those important fact-finding trips the Members like to take when not occupied with pressing affairs here in the capital.

Annie ran the front office, and served the long line of Captains who attempted to control the chaos of the back office. Decades of Captains, and hundreds of us “kids,” mostly up-and-coming three stripers. She would not blink at the prospect of getting a call for help from me in Rangoon or Pyongyang, or Carl on some mission to a Balkan war zone.

I have written before about her girlhood in Marshal Tito’s Yugoslavia, and the adventures of her Dad, the bold Army attaché, told by her Mom, who I was privileged to interview prior to her passing. But that was hardly the biggest adventure of her life, which was her marriage to Fred, and the family they founded together. There were some challenges, but nothing that the indomitable couple could not handle.

So when she wrote tersely to inform her very large family that Fred was gone…well, I blanched.

She amplified the situation later, providing a SITREP the way she might have managed any other crisis in the Pentagon:

“Right now am too busy to let the reality of Fred’s sudden departure set in. The funeral home attached quite a sense of urgency about identity theft. Skeezy bastards! Pretty sure I’ve threatened everyone into believing there will be hell to pay if… One of the first things was to have Fred removed from the voter rolls.

Here is the short version:

12 Oct Fred started feeling puny at Great granddaughter’s BD party.
13 Oct Felt slightly worse but we managed to have our planned dinner guests.

16 Oct Dragged him to doc’s office. You see a PA when it’s an unscheduled appt. She could find nothing – although Fred was having difficulty breathing. “Here’s an inhaler – come back Friday if you don’t feel better.”

17 Oct Wife said FT we’re off to the ER. By this time he was gasping for air and could barely walk.

ER took him right away. Doc literally skidded into the room and said: “You have acute leukemia. The type you have only 1.2% of the population gets.” His hematologist said UVA or Johns Hopkins are the only two places that can help him. I requested and Johns Hopkins accepted him.

He had no immune system, almost no red blood cells (reason he couldn’t breath). His severely compromised immune system allowed pneumonia to set in. Then his kidneys shut down then the domino effect took over and my sailor was gone.

And so it goes. He lived a good life, he didn’t suffer and he went quickly.

Now, if I can resist the overwhelming urge to bitch slap a certain PA into the next decade I’ll be fine!

We met in 1969 and married in 1971. Am grateful for the time we had together.”

There is one more bit- Fred was a Navy Chief, an African American and a great guy. Their long lover affair was not altogether common in 1969, at least not in Virginia. Loving v. Virginia, the case that held the Old Dominion’s miscegenation laws unconstitutional, was decided in 1967.

The rest of it? Here it is: Fred was born in 1938 in Roanoke, VA, the son of the late Henry and Rosa Miller. He was a 1957 graduate of Lucy Addison High School. Fred enlisted in the United States Navy in 1957, retiring in 1979 during which time he served in Vietnam and achieved the near-mythic rank of Chief Petty Officer.

Mr. Miller was a member of Sweet Union Baptist Church, Roanoke, Virginia. Fred was a loving husband, father and friend to many. In his spare time he enjoyed all sports especially golfing, as well as the beautiful mountains of Virginia.

He married Annie on May 22, 1971, in Arlington, VA.

Surviving with his wife is a son, Christopher Scott Miller and wife, Tina of Chantilly, VA, one grandchild, one great grandchild, sisters; Stella Grant, Charlene Randolph and Narcissus Bishop, and brothers; Gordon Miller and Dennis Miller, as well as many nieces, nephews cousins and many close friends.

He was preceded in death by a son, Gregory Michael Miller, and a brother, Jerry Miller.

Fred’s Family will be conducting services at a later date in Roanoke, Virginia. Interment will follow in Arlington National Cemetery.
Contributions to honor the memory of Fred Miller may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or Wounded Warriors Foundation, PO Box 75817, Topeka, KS 66675.

I will not make it to Roanoke, but I will be at Arlington when the time comes, along with a couple hundred of Fred’s best friends.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303