James Morrison Miller

Col. (Ret.) James Morrison Miller, 87, passed away on September 1, 2019 at Goodwin House, Bailey’s Crossroads in Falls Church, VA.   He was born in Hawley, PA.   He obtained his high school education at Valley Forge Military Academy and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1954.  After being commissioned in the Army Corp of Engineers, he was posted in Germany and then attended Princeton University where he was awarded a Master of Science degree in Engineering.  He subsequently had engineer troop assignments in Korea and with the 39th Engineer Battalion (Combat) in Vietnam.  He also had assignments in the Office of Chief of Engineers and on Army Staff and as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at West Point.  He was the District Engineer in Detroit and Chicago where he was responsible for the planning, design and construction of water resource development projects.  Mr. Miller subsequently was the Executive Officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) and then to the Secretary of the Army.  He retired from the Army as a Colonel in 1982.   He immediately joined the Washington Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and served as the Secretary to the Board of WMATA until 1997. 

Mr. Miller was predeceased by his first wife of 41 years, Theresa Fay.   He is survived by his wife of 16 years, Judith Mercy, a brother, Albert Miller and his wife Lorraine of Honesdale, PA, a sister, Margaret Cox, of Hawley, PA and their respective families.  He is also survived by a step-daughter, Mercy McCann of St. Albans, England.

Colonel Miller will be interred at a later date at Arlington Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, please send contributions in his memory to the Endowment Fund, Hawley United Methodist Church, 315 Church Street, Hawley, PA  18428 or to the Goodwin House Foundation, Attention Palliative Care and Hospice Services, 4800 Fillmore Avenue, Alexandria, VA.

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