Chris A. Miller

Born March 30, 1918, in Camden, NJ, one of nine children. He collapsed at his Sonoma home on Wednesday, October 13, 2010, and was rushed to Sonoma Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead as a result of a massive heart attack. He was preceded in death by his children Melinda Sue and Gregory; and is survived by his devoted and loving wife, Dale Schieser Miller; children Christopher R. Miller (wife Cheryle), Ken Schieser, Andrea Auckly (husband David); grandchildren Paul Miller (wife Inna), Jeffrey Miller (wife Kelli), Allison Miller Prysock (husband Sean), Ryan Stern (wife Jamie), Jessica Stern Trumbore (husband Marty), Linden Auckly, and John Auckly. He is also survived by his great-grandchildren: Alexandra Miller, Ilana Stern, Raviv Stern, Jack Miller, Sophia Miller, and Sebastian Trumbore. Chris served his country in both World War II and the Korean War, in his career in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a Senior Chief Petty Officer. He was a combat veteran in the Submarine Service, and a Pearl Harbor Survivor, and following his retirement from the Navy, completed another career with the California Department of Corrections, where his last and favorite assignment was being the Activities Coordinator at San Quentin. He was an avid stamp collector for over 50 years, but did not limit his collecting activities to stamps. He was well known for collecting diverse items such as coins, rocks, and sometimes just plain junk, and he and Dale loved to prowl through garage sales in search of interesting things. Chris led an active life, often demonstrating more energy than those much younger, and was actually recently observed climbing trees in his back yard to prune branches. He brought warmth and joy into every life that he touched, always upbeat, always with a smile and a joke, a "scratch and sniff sticker", care packages for grandchildren away at college, and sabotaging mail and packages by enclosing glitter that spilled out all over the unwary recipient. He was greatly loved and will be sorely missed, but is undoubtedly somewhere enjoying unlimited quantities of peanut brittle and ice cream. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held on November 14th 2010 at 2:30 p.m. at The Sonoma Veterans' Memorial Hall, 126 First Street West, Sonoma, CA.