Loyd Miller died Sept. 18 at the age of 93 in Puyallup.
He was born Sept. 1, 1931, in Tacoma, and raised on his family’s chicken ranch in the Fern Hill district. The ranch was owned by Loyd’s father, Albert, and his uncles. Growing up on the ranch, Loyd helped with raising chickens and candling eggs. He enjoyed fishing at local lakes with his buddies, and later backpacking and hunting.
Loyd graduated from Lincoln High School and then served honorably in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict. Following his military service, he attended the University of Washington and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. Loyd spent the majority of his career at Boeing. A few of the notable projects he worked on were the inaugural flight of the Boeing 747, the Saturn booster rocket, and the stealth bomber.
In 1958, while Loyd was still attending college, he met the love of his life, Sharon Miller (née Muirhead), at the Spanish Castle Ballroom in Des Moines. Loyd was a great dancer and quickly swept Sharon off her feet. They married in 1960 and had three children who they raised in Bothell.
Loyd and Sharon retired to a rural life on the Key Peninsula, where they created a lovely home with numerous flower and vegetable gardens and an orchard. Loyd always liked to have a surplus of produce to share with family, friends and the foodbank. Loyd enjoyed being active in the community, serving on the Key Peninsula Civic Center board, overseeing building maintenance, and organizing crab feeds and fireworks fundraisers.
Loyd was also instrumental in reviving the defunct Key Peninsula News, then operated under the auspices of the KP Civic Center Association, and he remained a valued member of the publishing board for many years.
Loyd was a true lover of nature and conservation and shared this with his family. There were many camping trips to hunt for mushrooms, to fish, hike, birdwatch, and study native plants. He was a supporter of the Great Peninsula Conservancy and volunteered at Tahoma Audubon, leading bird walks and participating in the Christmas bird count.
His friends and family will always remember Loyd as a wonderful storyteller with an amazing sense of humor, who could bring people to tears of laughter when reminiscing about his childhood antics, or retelling hunting and camping adventures.
Loyd is survived by his wife Sharon; children Felicia Murphy, Douglas Miller and Stacey Miller; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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