Laurence Bernard Miller, Jr.

Laurence (Larry) Bernard Miller, Jr.

Larry went home to be with the Lord on Thursday, February 21, 2013. He was born in Denver on February 16, 1931, and was the first of eight children born to Laurence and Wilma Miller. He is survived by his wife Lillian Miller of Chatsworth, California, his two children Audrey Miller and Eric Miller (Chatsworth, CA), and brothers and sisters Donald Miller Sr. (Lakewood), Wendel (Wimpy) Miller (Golden), Janice Alexander (Littleton), Willi Davis (Littleton), and Roger Miller (Littleton). He was preceded in death by his sister Elinore Fester and his brother Elmer Miller.

Larry grew up in Denver and attended Eagleton Elementary, Lake Junior High and West High Schools, graduating in 1952. He was always an enterprising young man having worked to deliver prescriptions for Hyde Pharmacy while in Junior High. After graduating from High School, he took over a Conoco station at 10th and Federal, spending many long hours. From there he moved to B. K. Sweeney auto supply as a salesman. He met Lillian in Denver where she worked as an Elementary school teacher. He moved to California in 1956 where Lillian and he were married.

In California, he worked for Sturtevant Motor Parts where he was the top salesman and was the President of the Van Nuys Optimist Club. While there he obtained a patent for extending the reach of a hydraulic backhoe arm and then founded Digmor Equipment based on that patent. He was President and the chief salesman of Digmor whose plant was situated in Redlands, CA. They provided their backhoe extensions to many municipalities and Massy Ferguson, Intl Harvester, and John Deere Companies. Later, he owned several shopping and business office centers and also ran Miller Equipment and Parts where he supplied automotive equipment to auto repair garages, service stations and car dealerships. Larry and Lillian loved to travel and to entertain their Colorado relatives. They traveled many places across the country with Dale and Elinore.

Larry became a classic car collector of his beloved Packards. He acquired everything from as early as a 1932 twin-six dual-cowl Phaeton to a 1956 Caribbean, the last year Packard was in business. He loved the dual-cowl the most and drove several Hollywood stars to grand openings, participated in the opening of Howard Hughes Drive, chauffeured John Glenn in the 1990 Rose Parade, and also Bob Hope for his 95th birthday in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Toluca Lake. He was an active participant in the Packard Club of California and participated in the 100' anniversary of the Packard Car Company in 1999. He also loved antiques memorabilia and was always ready to go through every antique store he saw. In the 1990s, many television shows were filmed in his home such as Berks Law, 90210, and Diagnosis Murder and he enjoyed participating with the actors in their catered meals.

Larry suffered a non-malignant brain tumor that attacked his optic nerve in 1990. After surgery at the University of Southern California Medical Center, he went many years with only slight vision problems. But it was always difficult to remove it all and it came back 14 years later in 2004. He had surgery through the same place in his skull eight years later, again with only minimal vision problems. Three years later it was back and the surgeon for the third time removed it. However, the very same tumor grew back to its full size six months later. The surgeon could not go through his skull again and he had to endure a gamma knife procedure and radiation to hopefully prevent future growth of the tumor. The result was he continued to get worse and eventually became disabled due to the effects of medicine he had to take to keep the brain swelling down from the radiation treatment and the subsequent trickle effect it had on his body.

Both his daughter and son did the best they could in helping with his needs. Audrey helped supervise the numerous physical therapy centers he attended. Eric spent significant time attending to his individual and personal needs, whether it was taking Larry directly to his various doctor appointments, or taking him around and visiting old time friends and customers. Larry was ecstatic when he got to spend a couple of months in Denver just a little over a year ago where he was able to visit all his brothers, sisters and other relatives. In the weeks preceding his death, one or both of the children, including his wife Lillian, would visit him daily. They continued to assist him in his therapy sessions, feeding him or attending to his other needs. Over the past few years, he had many dedicated healthcare professionals helping him along the
way, which in his family's minds, helped prolong a better quality life for him even in his condition. He was always appreciative of everyone's help, and kept his sense of humor and good-natured personality the whole way. But despite everyone's dedicated efforts, he continued to gradually decline and lost his long standing battle.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Laurence's name to:
USC Department of Neurosurgery, Attn: Gina Bidus, 1540 Alcazar Street STE 209A,
Los Angeles, CA 90033