Dr. Miles Edward Anderson

1926 - 2020

Dr. Miles Edward Anderson

Dr. Miles Edward Anderson, 93, finished his long journey home, to His Father's house, on March 16, 2020.

He was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, on December 13, 1926, to Dewitt Philip Anderson and Mary Wise Anderson. After graduating from Waxahachie High School he entered the U.S. Navy, serving in San Diego during WW II. He worked on a project so secret that no one was allowed to mention its name: Radio Detection and Ranging, known today simply as RADAR.

In 1948, Miles and his high school sweetheart, Harlene Gaston, were married. This past January they celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary. They are the parents of three children, Gail, Barbara, and David. They are members of First United Methodist Church of Denton.

After the war Miles entered North Texas State College, now the University of North Texas, earning his bachelor and masters degrees in physics. Thereafter he attended Stanford University in California on a Danforth Foundation grant, receiving his PhD in physics in 1963. His work was on the basic science of nuclear magnetic resonance, which forms the basis of modern Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

He returned from Stanford to North Texas to teach physics at UNT, and also spent a year as a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis. His 40 year career as a professor at UNT was interrupted for a four year period in the 1970s when the university called upon him to serve as its Academic Vice President.

Miles (WK5K) was an early amateur radio operator, and through the years contacted fellow shortwave operators in over one hundred countries. He was also a great lover of music and played violin and guitar. For many years he taught the physics of musical acoustics, and to generations of UNT music students he was much respected and loved.

After his retirement from active teaching in 1991, Miles and Harlene built a log cabin near Creede, Colorado, spending their summers fly fishing, hiking, and enjoying the wildlife and the beauty of the mountains. Miles was an excellent craftsman, carpenter, and machinist, as was his father before him.

Miles was preceded in death by his parents, his grandson Nathan, great-grandson Isaiah, and brothers Ralph and Dan. He is survived by his wife, Harlene, daughters Barbara and Gail, son-in-law Jacob Needleman, son David, and daughter-in-law Bunny Hodges, and his grandchildren, Stephen and Jonathan Anderson, Noah and Joy Richardson, Megan Helbert, and seven great-grandchildren.

Miles Anderson was a man of great intelligence and wit, a warm heart, a gentle spirit, and an enduring love of God and family. He will be greatly missed.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.