Fred Beard Miller

Fred Beard Miller died in the early morning hours of April 19, 2025. He was preceded by his parents: Samuel Perry Miller and Mary Margaret Miller who were married on March 4, 1917. Several of his siblings also preceded him: Russell, Margaret (“sis”), Frances, Dorothy, Catherine, Wilbur, and Herbert. Those still living are his sister Edna (aged 104) and his two brothers Arthur (“Ottie” aged 95) and Charles (aged 91). Fred was the tenth child in the family, born on March 29, 1932. Fred graduated from Maryland Park High School in Seat Pleasant, Maryland in 1950. His sophomore and junior years there he sang in the A Cappella Choir and joined the Glee Club. He was a school projectionist in his sophomore, junior, and senior years. During his single post high school years, he loved to buy a new car every two years. Fred joined the Capitol Heights Volunteer Fire Department in 1950. He was in the Army from 1952 through 1954 as a switchboard operator in the 7784 Signal Corp in Orleans, France during the Korean War. He has stayed in contact with one of his Army buddies remembering some of those exciting times. While in Europe he traveled throughout France and Switzerland. Through more than forty years of active employment he worked as a pipefitter. He started his internship with the Plumbers Union and worked with them until a drop in the economy laid him off. A friend suggested he join the government. The Office of Personnel Management readily accepted his resume and sent him to the Forestall Building to begin. He worked with the government for a little over twenty years. He concluded his active years from 1984 through 1994 working at the Smithsonian Institution where he got to help prepare the arrival of each new incoming exhibition by realigning the ceiling pipes to send a sprinkler system pouring water directly onto the exhibit below were it ever to catch on fire. From his first marriage to Ginger, he had three children. The oldest is Rick Miller (who had two children: Ashley and Christopher). Rick Miller is now married to Terrie. The middle child is Katheryn (married to Paul Mainhart). The youngest is Brooks Christopher Miller (married to Glenda). Fred’s great- granddaughter is Amelia. Fred married Gwendolyn on May 24,1980 sharing 44 years of warm companionship until the morning of his death. Fred and Gwen have a foster son they raised from age seven onward who recently married Amy with her three sons in November of 2024. Fred’s love of music with his mellow tenor voice lasted throughout his life. A continuous member of the Washington City Church of the Brethren, he was always singing in the choir. He sang the tenor solo in the cantata “The Seven Last Words of Christ”. Fred loved to travel, but always with his “four wheels on the ground”. He and Gwen traveled throughout middle and western Canada and all of Alaska while he towed a 24 -foot travel trailer. The two drove through every state in the nation except Hawaii and enjoyed New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. Since their mutual retirements they have enjoyed spending one entire week out of every month in a different Bluegreen Resort. Fred would always invite his son Brooks and/or daughter Kathy to join them each month. Fred’s most loved automobile was his 1999 Chevrolet Suburban which happily still sits in his driveway. This vehicle will be spending more years now with Gwen. In lieu of flowers, please send any contributions to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Fred’s ashes will be spread over the Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren Cemetery down in the Shenandoah Valley near Broadway, Virginia.

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Fred Beard Miller

April 19, 2025