Capt. John Miller by Ward Miller (no relation)
My sister, Bets, who is 92, recently stumbled on some old photographs from a Lee (Elizabeth) Miller, from Poughkeepsie, NY. She thought that interesting and began some research, as she is wont to do. She found Lee Miller was a world famous photographer for Vogue in the 1930s and during WWII was the first of only a hand full of female combat photographers. Several books about her have been published. She moved to England after the war and it is there her son has made their home into a memorial for Lee and her photos and it has turned into quite a tourist and history buff's attraction. If you google "lee miller photographer" you will get dozens of hits about her and her photos. I browsed through some of her photo collections; she was way ahead of her time. Her son has made several traveling shows of her pictures. One is currently in NYC.
www.leemiller.co.uk
Anyway, while scanning her biography I noticed she was the daughter of Theodore Miller, general manager of De Laval (then Alpha Laval) Separator Company, the largest business in Poughkeepsie 100 years ago. I remember Capt. John Miller once telling me his father was the GM of De Laval! So I did a quick search on John and found his obit from the Poughkeepsie Journal, with a following Letter to the Editor, written by Vanni Cappelli, saying they forgot to mention his world famous sister, Lee.
Of all the countless hours I spent talking with John in his home at Kingwood Park, it is strange he never once mentioned his sister, or their younger brother. Also, with the exception of Cappelli's letter, I've never seen in writing the connection between John and his siblings.
I then sent Bets a copy of that transcript I did on John's talk at DCC. She was fascinated to learn from it all about John's history and early Poughkeepsie days. She said that must have been a very interesting family. As mentioned in some of Lee's bios, their father taught all his children about photography, including the darkroom side, at an early age.
It's a small world . . .
Vanity Fair
NY Times
The Guardian
