GRANITE FALLS – Joseph Miller was just being himself at a Christmastime visit to a Mountlake Terrace church.
His father, Ed Miller, is famous for playing Santa Claus around the Granite Falls community.
One Christmas Eve, Ed Miller also was the jolly old elf for a group in Seattle. His family went with him, missing their normal holiday service at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Granite Falls, but they stopped for Mass at an unfamiliar parish in Mountlake Terrace.
Ed Miller, his wife, Vicki, and their daughter, Jenny, sat in a pew. Son Joseph Miller didn’t join them right away. They weren’t surprised he was at the front door of the church, welcoming parishioners he’d never met.
“That was like him,” Ed Miller said. “He was a greeter.”
By day, Joseph Miller, 24, was a guard on an armored truck, well known as the guy with size 16 shoes and a huge, beguiling personality. At his funeral, even customers on his route, from as far away as a Macy’s store in Seattle, came to pay their final respects.
Joseph Robert Miller died in an automobile accident July 1 near his home in Granite Falls. His pallbearers were all fellow Eagle Scouts.
During his Scouting career, Miller received the Vigil Honor from the Order of the Arrow and the Founders Award and was named a Keeper of the Totem. He was a staff member and an active volunteer at Fire Mountain Scout Reservation near Mount Vernon and was a member of Fire Mountain Alumni, where he established a scholarship program.
He belonged to Friendly Critters 4-H Club in Granite Falls and showed animals at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. This year he was going to be assistant superintendent for the 4-H Plant and Soil Science Department.
He took two dates to the senior prom at Granite Falls High School.
Richard Bates, Miller’s advanced-placement English teacher, said Miller would come by after class to discuss difficult coursework.
“Many times we talked about everything but the studies, but through that discussion, many lights would click on for Joey, and he began to trust himself and believe in himself,” Bates said. “Joey was that type of kid, inherently good, and our world has lost a fine, fine young man.”
Miller kept in touch with his fourth-grade teacher, Debra Howell. It was just amazing, Howell said, to see this huge bear of a man standing at her classroom door. When the kids saw him, they would say “Mrs. H., Joey’s here!”
She said he stood larger than life to her students and they truly loved to have him come by.
“On this last classroom visit, Joey made a point of talking to each of the kids, asking them things about their life, answering their many questions, and giving them advice,” Howell said. “His incredible calm and serene manners, his huge smile, his all-encompassing and strong hug, that twinkle of silliness in his eyes – Joey was one of the kindest and most sincere individuals I have ever known.”
Miller was born July 25, 1981, in Seattle and grew up in Granite Falls. He is survived by his parents, Ed and Vicki Miller; his sister, Jenny Miller; his grandmother, Gladys Minaglia; his grandfather, Robert Miller; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.
Super Bowl parties were extravaganzas at his house. He lit all the Fourth of July fireworks in a careful manner. He used his Chevy Tahoe to help anybody move.
He was a member of Holy Cross Council 13560 and John F. Kennedy Assembly 1530, and was a third- and fourth-degree Knight with the Knights of Columbus. When no one showed up to cut wood for a Knights of Columbus work party, Miller did all the chopping -with a smile.
His mother said he didn’t keep up his room but his truck was immaculate. And he never minded rubbing her feet after a long day.
“He had a big stature,” Vicki Miller said. “He was a baby bear. He would have made someone a fantastic husband.”
Some of his admirers never knew Joseph Miller’s name. He was famous for getting home late after stopping at the side of road to change a stranger’s flat tire.
Friend Johannes Anderson used to see Miller at church and school.
“He had an aura about him, radiating kindness and an underlying sense of serving others, and this enabled him to easily find commonalties and strike up conversation with people of all ages,” Anderson said. “His community involvement was always an example that inspired me to also become very involved in the Granite Falls community.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
Joseph Miller was active in Scouting.
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