Henry Landon Miles

1935 - 2025

Henry Landon Miles

1935 ~ 2025

Henry Landon Miles, 90, of Orem, Utah, died Friday, July 18, 2025, in Provo, Utah, surrounded by his loving family (20 in person and many more virtually), from smoke inhalation sustained in a house fire.

He was born on a small farm in Blackfoot, Idaho, March 2, 1935, to Henry and Amelia Landon Miles. He was an Eagle Scout. He graduated from Blackfoot High School in 1953, and served in the National Guard, 1953-1959. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Western Canada, 1955-57. While there, a missionary companion who had attended MIT encouraged him to pursue higher education because of his ability to study and memorize scriptures and Shakespeare. This changed the trajectory of his life. He graduated with a BA from Idaho State University in 1961, earned a Masters in Economics from American University in 1968, and a second masters degree in English from BYU in 1994.

Henry married Joan Carol Polatis May 20, 1960, in the Idaho Falls Temple. They made their first home in Blackfoot, where their first child, John Christian, was born December 19, 1960. He was two months premature and lived only 19 hours. He would be followed by five more children, Nelson, Joni, Terese, David, and Joey.

In 1961, Henry and Carol traveled to Fort Belvoir, Virginia for his Engineer Officer training, and they decided to stay in the Washington, DC area, where there were lucrative jobs to be had while continuing their education. Over the years, they lived in Greenbelt, Maryland; Arlington, Virginia; and Alexandria, Virginia.

While attending university classes at night, his first job was at Potomac Electric Power Company in Washington, DC as an analyst. He then worked for the US government as a contract negotiator for the Navy Department. He participated in the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963. After passing his MA preliminary exam, he accepted a two-year tour in LaPaz, Bolivia, to manage loans and grants. His plan to research and write his MA thesis there was interrupted after 10 months by a transfer to Vietnam in 1966. He finished his masters degree in economics after he returned to DC in 1967. During this time, the Post Office Department offered him a promotion and he took it.

More than a year later, the State Department offered him a job in economics and he and his family spent 9 1/2 years in South America: four years in Ecuador, where he became Deputy Program Officer, and the rest in Paraguay where he was Capital Development Officer. During this time, Henry and Carol gained many lifelong friends.

They returned to DC in 1978, and he continued to work for the State Department. He retired in 1985, but accepted another overseas assignment to El Salvador which he completed in 1988.

In 1988, Henry and Carol settled in Orem, Utah. Both attended Brigham Young University, where literature and writing became his passions. He encouraged EVERYONE to write family histories, setting an example as he and Carol visited relatives and recorded their stories. Henry self-published several books and had several publications in literary journals.

Among other pursuits after his retirement, he and Carol volunteered for the Women and Children in Crisis Center and prepared taxes for H & R Block. He extended the length of his beard and acted as an extra in Book of Mormon films. He was also Father Christmas and Santa at Christmastime. He enjoyed giving his grandchildren rides on his 1982 Honda motorcycle that had often been his transportation fourteen miles to the State Department from Mount Vernon, Virginia, during the 1980s.

In the early 2000s, Henry began hiking to the top of the Y on the mountain several times a week, tabulating over 4,000 times, including one year when he accumulated over 400 hikes-meaning hiking more than once a day. He became a fixture on the trail, encouraged EVERYONE to hike, and developed friendships with other regular hikers. Many said that he was an inspiration to them. He hiked to the Y the day before he died.

Henry served in various church callings, including counselor to three mission presidents who were opening missions in South America. He and Carol hosted Elder Spencer W. Kimball and his wife Camilla when they visited Bolivia in May 1966. He attended the church conference in Vietnam when Elder Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated that land for the preaching of the gospel in October 1966. The family met with the Kimballs again in Paraguay in 1975. He taught early morning seminary in Virginia.

More recently, Henry was an employment missionary. He was also a family history specialist and ward historian and issued a call to family, friends, and fellow ward members to write essays related to their experiences and especially about their mission decisions.

Henry is survived by his wife, Carol, and five children: Nelson (Mari), Joni Howard (Arthur), Terese Hickey (Tom), David (Loree), and Joey (Kelly), 21 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and brothers Jerry and Enoch. He was preceded in death by his son John Christian, his parents, and his brother Paul.

Henry donated his body to the University of Utah medical school. A memorial will be held Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 1:00 p.m., at the Cherry Hill 1st Ward Chapel, 1700 South 400 East, Orem, Utah. The family will receive visitors before the service from 12:00-12:45 p.m.