RELIABLE

though, is the number of times that Miller has arrived late or called off sick in that time: zero.

Only rarely, and grudgingly, has he even taken vacation days, long ago reaching OhioHealth’s maximum carryover hours on vacation (320), said Steve Doust, Miller’s boss.

With the country celebrating Labor Day today, the national holiday honoring the American labor movement seemed an appropriate time to showcase a man who cleans floors, day after day, utterly reliably and without complaint.

“I don’t like somebody else doing my job,” said Miller, explaining his aversion to taking time off. “It just infuriates me that I’m sitting home and somebody else is doing it. You feel guilty, you know?”

Miller credits his work ethic to his upbringing on a farm. Along with their five children, Wesley and Joanne Miller — Miller’s parents — raised dairy cows, chickens, hogs, sheep, corn and soybeans on 150 acres just west of Delaware.

Donnie Miller, the secondoldest, was born in 1954 in the hospital that has employed him for more than four decades.

Miller, 64, lives with wife Penny about 3 miles east of Grady, meaning that he has spent much of his life Donnie Miller hasn't missed a day of work at OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital since his first day on the job: Aug. 6, 1976. Here's what was happening in the world then: • Gerald Ford was president. • The No. 1 song was "Kiss and Say Goodbye" by The Manhattans • Gasoline cost 56 cents a gallon. • The final John Wayne film ("The Shootist") was

within a 5-mile radius.

Being raised on a farm, he said, was “beautiful.”

“You worked hard and you played hard. Those were good times.”

Miller recalled having daily chores, rising at 6 a.m. before school to “maybe shovel corn over to the hogs or something.”

His father set an example, he said. “He drove a big milk truck around to all the farms — and, one day, he was as sick as a dog but went anyway. I never will forget that, that’s where I got my inspiration.”

The 1973 graduate of Delaware Hayes High School began working as a laborer and in a manufacturing facility before landing at Grady in 1976.

For the most part, his job has consisted largely of the floor mopping. But he has gone from using a hand-held mop and bucket to a walkbehind floor-scrubbing machine called a T-5.

With the machine, he “patrols” the halls of the Donnie Miller

released on Aug. 11. • The Apple Computer Co. was 4 months old. • The minimum wage was $2.20. • Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg would not be born for eight years.

324,000-square-foot hospital, racking up about 10,000 daily steps, which he tracks with a pedometer.

Every day, he shows up 20 minutes early for his 7 a.m. shift — “to beat traffic,” he said.

Doust, the hospital’s environmental services manager, said Miller is not only reliable but also good at his job.

“He keeps (the floors) in immaculate condition,” Doust said. “And he’s always here.”

Beth Savage, nurse manager of surgical services, can attest to that.

“My office door is open, and I’ll speak to him every day,” she said. “Every day, he asks, ‘Are you having fun yet?’”

Savage, who has worked at the hospital for 35 years, said Miller has helped make the hospital the enjoyable workplace that it is.

“He is part of the culture at Grady,” she said. “We have a really friendly culture here, and he definitely feeds into that.”

Heidi Peterson, administrative nurse manager in the maternity department, agreed.

“His machine is big and loud, and it would be easy for him to stay in his own little circle,” she said, “but he’s always engaging people and always smiling.”

Miller has never had a health problem or ailment significant enough to miss work, he said. He did miss two days during the blizzard of January 1978, when travel in the area was shut down.

On his off days, Miller and his wife — they will celebrate their 37th anniversary this month — like to visit flea markets. Once in a while, they travel to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where Penny grew up.

In two weeks, he plans to take a rare full week of vacation. The time off coincides with the run of the Delaware County Fair, so he and his wife plan to spend some time there.

Miller has no retirement plans, but isn’t much of a planner, he said.

“I got a couple of more years (of work).”

Until then, Miller will keep getting up each weekday, driving his 2001 Chevy pickup 3 miles to work and arriving 20 minutes early.

“If you’re not sick, you’re not wore out and you got your health,” he said, “then you’re supposed to be at work.”