PAUL HENRY MILLER

3-7-1940 to 2-26-2025

Glastonbury, Columbia, Hebron

     Paul Miller led a life in turns charmed and challenging. He died on February 26, 2025 beloved by virtually all who knew him and surrounded by his loving family just nine days short of his 85th birthday.

     He was challenged early. As the youngest of five children, at the age of three he lost his older and only brother, Dudley, then 18 and an army private in the liberation of Italy in 1943. His father, Paul R Miller, died when Paul was 13 and he and his sisters, Genevieve, Marilyn and Beverly helped their mother, Gertrude Wilson Miller, maintain a one pump gas station and small store at the top of Still Hill in South Glastonbury for many years thereafter. Following his graduation from Glastonbury High School In 1958, Paul intended to enlist in the Air Force. But a diving accident off the coast of Maine that summer severely injured him and as part of his rehabilitation program he spent a year at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford. And wonderfully, that was where the charmed part of his life began. First, after being totally paralyzed, Paul very slowly recovered and with the help of amazing therapists, doctors and nurses, Paul regained the ability to walk with only the slightest hint of a limp. He firmly believed God had a hand in it as well, because the docs couldn’t explain the spontaneous nerve regeneration. He also gained the lifelong friendship of his roommate, Peter Reneson, who had polio. Paul had been a fisherman almost since he could walk and he and Peter sometimes followed the stocking truck or fished a stream or went out on the Sound and always ate or shared what they caught. 

      After getting a business education he worked at CBT and then in that charmed life way found his way to Tracy, Robinson and Williams. He was mentored by the Treasurer who was also a wonderful friend. He had a rewarding career over a 30 year period. When circumstances led him to take a disability retirement in 1995 he left as the Treasurer. Ironically, on February 3, 2025 Paul celebrated exactly 30 years of retirement to equal his 30 years of hard work.

Going back in time a little, on July 4, 1966, Paul attended the wedding of a good friend at a church in South Glastonbury. Just before the service started, Paul’s mother reached over and said to him, “There’s the little Hodge Girl, didn’t she turn out nice?” At the reception he asked Ginny Hodge to dance and as they say - the rest is history. After their wedding in 1968 they bought a “fixer-upper” on Amston Lake and after the roofer, plumber and electrician had done their work, they painted and sawed and nailed. No sooner was everything complete, then a defective fuse caused a fire and it all needed to be redone. But they were young and in love, and as  Paul’s charmed life required, they happily repaired and rebuilt. Even to the point of buying an avocado green refrigerator again…

Their family grew with the arrival of Paul Jr in October, 1970 and Jason in October, 1978. Like most kids, they brought joy and a few challenges to their parents but Paul thrived as a Dad and to the very end of his life he valued the time with “his boys.” As they grew, both sons brought home wonderful women. Paul Jr married Yoon Kim and Jason married Kerri Honiberg. And both marriages produced beautiful girls, Madeline Kim and Julia Miller, both of whom brought Paul some of the greatest happiness of his later years. 

       Paul was committed to the concept of “giving back”, perhaps because of the medical miracle that had restored him after the terrible accident at age 18. Paul became involved in the Columbia Lions and served as Treasurer and President. He was active in two UCC churches, first, Columbia Congregational and for the last 21 years of his life, his beloved Gilead Church in Hebron. He sang in the choir, served as a senior Deacon, chaired the nominating Committee, served on the Stewardship Committee and was a founding member of the Garden of Remembrance Committee. He was also recruited to serve as Treasurer of the Tolland Association Council of the UCC which he did for 12 years.

       Music was always a huge part of Paul’s life - he’s famous for blowing out the speakers of his pick-up by playing Rossini at top volume - but he always had NPR on (when they were a classical station) and Alexa became his very good friend because she could play Beatles, be interrupted for Respighi and come back to Simon and Garfunkel as the mood dictated. Being a kid of of the 50’s and 60’s he could hear the first three or four notes of an Oldie and say “Still of the Night, 5 Satins, 1956”. On one cruise they asked him not to compete anymore in “Name that Tune”. He had a beautiful baritone voice which he used to sing with church choirs and in his earlier days as a member of the Nayaug Male Chorus in South Glastonbury.

       Paul loved to garden and clearly had 10 “green thumbs”. From their first garden planted in the shade on their teeny lot in Amston to the raised beds in their present home, the calendar year was divided into dreaming of summer, ordering from seed catalogues, planting and tending, fighting weeds and pests, harvesting and sharing, evaluating and back to dreaming. He started a Garden Swap at church which Bruce Langevin expanded to a seed, plant and produce swap. Paul and Ginny lost a few friends in the early years, thanks to a propensity for giving away far too many extra large zucchini, but that was offset by the eggplants, cukes, tomatoes and herbs which were received with enthusiasm.

       Paul was a reader and enjoyed talking about books and getting recommendations about what to read next. The Saxton B. Little Free Library in Columbia was a regular stop and he had a number of sponsored authors there. Rarely did he leave church without a new book, leant to him by one of the several friends who shared his taste and appetite for books. 

He and Ginny were blessed with wonderful and supportive friends throughout their lives. In the 70’s they met four other couples and quickly became “The Gang”. The guys would cut wood on Saturdays and amazingly, always came home with body parts all accounted for, sometimes bruised, but intact! The Christmastime Progressive Dinners were legendary, lasting from when the kids were toddlers to the time of grandchildren. Their Gilead friends blessed them in their later years. They were as kind and supportive as they could be - there were card games and dinners and helping hands in abundance. And one friendship in his later years was truly special: Bruce and Joe loved cards, fine dining, music and there was a seven year tradition of weekly cards and dinners which even survived their move to South Carolina thanks to FaceTime on the laptops and the card games on individual iPads.

Paul’s body began to betray him as he entered his 50s. Holding hands with Ginny for the joy of it became a level of support at one point. He progressed from a cane to a crutch to two crutches to a scooter for long distances to a basic power chair as he began to fall frequently to finally deluxe power chairs as he completely lost the ability to stand or transfer in 2018. The one-level home they had built in 1988 adapted easily to this new situation and he continued to live a full and vibrant life.

       The last four months were difficult as he was hospitalized for all but the last ten days of his life when he returned home in hospice care. He died on February 26 surrounded by his loved and loving family and holding Ginny’s hand. The family truly appreciates the wonderful care provided by Hartford Healthcare Hospice and all the caring nurses and CNAs at Mansfield Rehab.

        There will be a celebration of Paul’s life on Saturday, March 8th at 11am at the Gilead Congregational Church, 672 Gilead Street, Hebron, CT 06248. A luncheon will follow in the Social Hall after the service. And as much as Paul loved all things growing, he specifically asked for no flowers but if folks are inclined to remember him, please plant a garden and share your produce. Alternatively, contributions in his memory to the Gilead Church or the Saxton B. Little Free Library, 319 Route 87, Columbia, CT 06237 would be very meaningful to his family.