Nelson Harris Miller, Jr.

NELSON MILLER

Born: October 13, 1923

Died: April 1, 2025

Nelson Miller, formerly of Mt. Morris, Illinois, passed away at 101 years old on April 1, 2025 in Fairfax, Virginia.

Nelson Harris Miller, Jr. was born on October 13, 1923 in Bay Ridge, New York to Ruth and Nelson Miller, Sr. In 1941, he graduated from Manhattan’s prestigious High School of Music & Art where he sang, played the trombone, wrote poetry and, rumor has it, thoroughly charmed his classmates and teachers with his talent and good humor.

In 1943, he moved with his parents and sister to Delaware, where he tried his hand at farming. On a visit with friends to a dance at the University of Delaware, he met Agnes Berger, who he married in 1949. His career after marriage was a varied one and, according to him, always enjoyable – he was a steel plant worker, a herdsman, a salesperson for a candy company and pet food wholesaler, and ultimately the founder and owner of his own pet supply company in Washington, D.C. He and Aggie raised four lively children – Gregory, Carolyn (known as Taffy), Clifford, and Christopher. After moving the family to northern Virginia in the early 1960s, he and Aggie became founding members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Annandale, Virginia where Nelson was involved in all aspects of church life, including serving as the choir director for many years.

In addition to working, raising a family, and being active in his church, Nelson was a man of many talents. He had a passion for plants and flowers, ultimately earning his associate degree in horticulture. Over the years he was often in the garden, and until a few years ago he was still germinating seeds, planting the flowers he grew, and creating landscaping plans. His knowledge of the various orchid species was extensive, as was his knowledge of animals and birds – in the 1970s he published a book on the purple martin that was sold for years by Sears as a companion to their purple martin houses. Despite no formal training, he also designed and built two houses in the 1960s. His lifelong ability to write poetry, and to spontaneously toss out a pun or poem, is well known to family and friends.

In 1999, after Aggie’s death the previous year, Nelson married Joanne Clark and they lived in Fairfax, Virginia until 2003, when they moved to Joanne’s hometown of Mt. Morris, Illinois. Nelson loved the people and small-town atmosphere of Mt. Morris and he immediately became part of the community, conducting the choir at the Church of the Brethren, planning and conducting 13 annual Christmas Cantatas, and helping set up and run Loaves & Fish, the local food pantry. In 2018, he was named the Mt. Morris Library’s Poet Laureate, and he participated in the first annual Mt. Morris Poetry Jam held later that same year. In 2019, at the age of 96, he composed the lyrics and music to his first hymn, “The Love That God Gives Freely.”

Nelson and Joanne moved back to Virginia in the fall of 2021 to be close to family, making their home these last few years at the Woodlands Retirement Community in Fairfax. In carrying on with their cantata tradition, he and Joanne planned a wonderful Christmas music program just a few months after arriving at The Woodlands. His many talents, love, sense of humor, and twinkling blue eyes will be greatly missed.

Nelson is survived by his wife Joanne; his four children and their spouses (Greg and Marie, Cliff and Pat, Chris and Sue, Taffy and Rick); his “bonus children” and their spouses (Julie and Steve, Dave and Leigh, and Karen); 11 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

A private celebration of life is being planned, and his cremated remains will be laid to rest at a later time in Plainview Cemetery in Mt. Morris. Condolences may be sent to Joanne Miller at The Woodlands, 4320 Forest Hill Drive, Apt. 236, Fairfax, Virginia 22030. The family asks that any gifts in Nelson’s memory be made to Loaves & Fish Food Pantry (409 W. Brayton Road, Mt. Morris IL 61054) or the Mt. Morris Public Library (105 S. McKendrie Avenue, Mt. Morris IL 61054).