About This Site

Why did I put up this website about my father?

I’m just one of many who come from an ordinary family. No famous actors or politicians in the immediate — or even extended — family. My parents were a simple working couple. My mother mostly worked as a receptionist in health care. My father worked for the Post Office, primarily working through mail intended for those who moved.

My mother worked the daytime hours and my father began work about 3pm. This was a strategic plan between the two of them. This insured a parent was around most of the day for their two sons. As a bonus, my father got extra pay for the night shift and we rarely had sitters.

Another bonus of the schedule became apparent when I reached sixth grade. Because my elementary school was only four blocks away, I was able to walk to school and back. I did this two times a day. One roundtrip was the usual to and from school that most children do. The other roundtrip was for lunch at home. Everyday for the entire sixth grade I walked home for a lunch with and prepared by my father. Probably, I’m one of a few who have ever had that sixth grade experience.

Junior high was further away so the same plan would not work. And senior high school was about a mile away. Again, no walking home for lunch.

However, during the junior high summer months, I attended summer school at a school associated with the University of Nebraska nearly five miles away. I was transported to class by my father. How I got home I don’t recall.

The shuttle service might have ended when I reached college age, but it didn’t. The private university I attended was only five blocks away. By this age, I had developed the late-night lifestyle. I was prone to sleep in, wake up, and panic because I didn’t have time to walk to class. “Dad, can you run me up to school?” Almost always, he agreed to the five-block emergency shuttle.

Living at home during university had distinct advantages. For one, attending a private university became affordable because there was no housing and food cost. My parents graciously provided both during the three and half year stint. (I attended summer classes to graduate early.) Another advantage was the buffer from the drug scene that was rampant on nearly every campus at the time. I grew up in a house with no alcohol, no drugs, no cigaretes. I gained a solid footing that having a good time with family without the addictions was completely normal. And there were some lunches with Dad during college.

Later in life, I had an opportunity to get a good car. Dad to the rescue again. I was short on the full price. Dad helped me out.

We generally think parents carry children into the future. I can say that my father certainly did this in a most concrete way with shuttles, lunches, and special funding — as many parents do.

But many parents do not get public recognition for their day-to-day qualities and activities that provide a positive influence on others. This website is one way of providing recognition to a quiet, unassuming man who would never seek public recognition. I am happy to be public about my father.

— Bruce Miller