Eugene Arundel Miller
Gene Miller passed away peacefully on December 18, 2020. Gene was the devoted and loving husband of Phyllis Forsling Miller, who passed on July 2, 2017, to whom he was married for 65 years. Gene is remembered for his mischievous sense of humor and covert joyfulness that he readily shared until the end of his long life. His children say he gave them his curiosity and the joy he found in exploration and discovery. Gene had a reverence for history and for his ancestors, many of whom appeared in the books that he published later in life.
Gene was born and raised in Nebraska. He attended Colorado A&M, where he received a BS Degree in Civil Engineering in 1951. It was there that he met Phyllis on a blind date. Shortly after graduation, Gene applied for a commission in the Navy Civil Engineering Corp, later transferred to the Naval Officer Candidate School, and served as a naval officer for three years. He also attended Georgia Institute of Technology, where he received a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering in 1956. Following graduation, the young family moved to California, eventually settling in Mill Valley, where the family remained for more than 60 years.
Gene became an associate and then partner in several consulting geotechnical engineering firms in San Francisco, including Converse, Harding Miller Lawson, and Harlan Miller Tait, before opening his own firm, Miller Pacific Engineering Group, in San Rafael in 1989. During his 45-year career he was responsible for engineering and safety studies for 68 dams in the US. He was the soils engineer for numerous landslide studies and the foundation engineer for many highrise, public, industrial and commercial structures throughout the Bay Area. Gene also served on the Board of Directors of Marin Municipal Water District.
Gene retired from engineering in 2001 but hardly “retired.” Gene embarked upon an encore career as a writer and publisher, honoring his parents and his wider lineage in the books that he wrote. He published six books, including "Railroad 1869." As the youngest grandson of Arundel Hull, one of the earliest photographers chronicling the construction of the transcontinental railroad, Gene inherited Hull’s collection of photographs (now maintained in a special collection at the Denver Public Library). With Hull’s photographs as his guide, Gene visited surviving towns and ghost towns along the original route, and combined the photos and his own experiences into a rollicking and informative travelogue.
Gene is survived by his daughter, Leslie Miller and her husband, Richard Carlton and their daughter, Caitlin; son, Jeffrey Miller, and his wife, Cathy Yee Miller, and their son, Christopher; his son, Michael Case Miller; his son, Ross Miller and his wife, Donna Laughlin Miller and their sons, Justin and Nicholas; and by his sister, Millicent Miller Sacio and her family of Lima, Peru.
To submit a tribute about Gene or share a favorite photo, please go to https://www.forevermissed.com/euge ne-arundel-.