H. T. "Ted" Miller, Sr.

Ted was born on November 19, 1928. He was the third oldest of 13 children. He was 96 years old when he passed away peacefully in the apartment where he lived surrounded by his 3 children.

Ted was born on a farm in the panhandle of Nebraska where he attended a one room school for grades one through six. In 1940 the family moved to Colorado headed for Grand Junction on the western slope, but ended up settling in Berthoud. They spent about 7 years in Berthoud but finally moved to Grand Junction in 1947.

While they were living in Berthoud, Ted and two of his brothers decided to go to a boarding school, Belleview Preparatory School in Westminster. This was September 1943. After graduating from the Prep School in 1946, he went home. Ted spent the next three years doing farm work around the Berthoud area, and later in Grand Junction. In 1949, he enrolled in Mesa Junior College, (now Colorado Mesa University), as an engineering student to fulfill his lifetime dream. After graduating from Mesa in 1951, he enrolled in the electrical engineering school at Colorado University at Boulder. In May of his first year at Boulder, his mother passed away. He met his brother, John, at the Wolf home because John and Doris were already married and John was in the army at Fort Riley Kansas. They drove to Grand Junction for the funeral and then back to Denver. This is how Ted became reacquainted with Betty, as she and her two sisters, Shirley and Doris had attended Belleview Prep also. While at Belleview Prep, there had been no chemistry between Ted and Betty. This time it was different. Ted finished out the school year and then moved to Denver where he worked for the City Parks Department. During this time, he decided to allow the military to help him with finishing his schooling. He was drafted in November 1952 and sent to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Ted used this time away to get better acquainted with Betty through writing letters, an occasional phone call and he even hitchhiked all the way to Denver to spend a few special days with her. She was his first and only love! 

 Ted and Betty were married on October 3, 1953 in Denver. When Ted returned to Fort Sill, he learned that he was being deployed to Korea. While Ted was away in Korea, Betty lived at home with her Mom and Dad. She had one goal and that was to save the money that Ted sent home and that she earned working so that Ted would be all set to finish his schooling when he completed his military service. As some might say, luck was on Ted’s side as he found out about a deferment program in the army available to the best college students. He applied and 2 weeks later received the approval. Ted had arrived in Korea in January and this was in August. The usual tour of duty was 16 months. After a short wait and an extra day in port, Ted enjoyed six wonderful days back to Seattle. Thirty-six hours later, he was back at Camp Carson (now Fort) and on September 8, 1954, Betty drove down to pick him up. This is when married life truly began. 

After his discharge from the army, he again enrolled in college at the Boulder Campus. On March 31, 1956 of his final semester at CU Boulder, Ted and Betty’s first child, Ted, Jr. was born. Ted graduated in May that year and the three of them moved to Phoenix, Arizona where Ted worked for Goodyear Aircraft in their Radar Research and Development Department. After living in Arizona for 2-1/2 years, they moved back to Denver where Ted went to work for Martin Co. in Titan I Ground Systems. He also worked the Titan II, III and IIIM areas. On September 9, 1961, the family welcomed twin girls, Colleen and Colette. Ted was a very proud Dad! Brother, Ted, Jr. broke his arm the day that Betty and the girls came home from the hospital. He took one look at his two sisters, and declared, “I’m in trouble now!” In 1966 the family was privileged to go to California for the summer months where Ted worked at the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Titan IIIB-1 Program and the family got to observe the launch. In 1970 the family moved to Houston, Texas for two years where Ted worked at the Johnson Space Center on the NASA Skylab Program. Later, after the children were all grown and had homes of their own, Ted and Betty spent a year in Florida where Ted worked at the Kennedy Space Center on the Space Shuttle Program. Ted retired in 1990 while working on the Titan IV Launch Vehicle Program, thus completing the cycle of working on all the Titan programs. His career spanned 31-1/2 years for the then Martin Marietta Corporation in the Aerospace Group, today known as Lockheed Martin.

Ted has served in several capacities at Englewood Bible Church: Deacon, Elder, Chairman of the Missions Committee, church Treasurer and assistant Treasurer. In 1990, Ted and Betty spent three months on the island of Bonaire with Trans World Radio Mission where Ted did some fiber optic transmission link design work for the radio station. The bonus of their time in Bonaire was that their daughter Colleen and family were missionaries on the island, so they were all blessed to make so many special memories while Ted and Betty were visiting. In 1997, Ted and Betty went to Bolivia to visit missionaries and encourage them in their work there. Ted also served the community of Willow Creek #3, where they lived, by serving 12 years on the HOA Board with 6 years as President. At age 82, Ted and a neighbor, Jeff Stevens, formed an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) to take care of maintaining the sprinkler system on the 23 acres of lawn which had 5000 sprinkler heads.

Around their home, Ted was the repairman, the tax man, the landscaper gardener, the painter and would help in any way he could. Ted was a man of few words, but when he spoke, his words carried weight and he meant business. As a family, they enjoyed outings going fishing, hiking, on picnics, ice skating, tubing, swimming, and later snow skiing, except for Betty. The family did many road trips which made for lots of special memories. Ted and Betty’s travels have taken them to all the contiguous 48 states and Hawaii. 

Ted’s faith was the most important thing to him and he led his family by example. He was a man who was faithful, loyal, steady, determined, and a bit stubborn. He would get a “bee in his bonnet” and not let go. Ted had the patience of Job and was humble. He walked in wisdom and grace and delighted in his family!

Ted is preceded in death by his parents William Edward Miller and Doris Lucile (Anderson) Miller, his beloved wife of 70 years, Betty June Miller, and 8 of his siblings. Ted is survived by his children Ted Miller, Jr. (Cathy), Colleen Henderson (Mike), Colette Parker (Cliff), seven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. Ted is survived by five siblings.