Former Battalion Chief Dale Miller, John Muir and PCC Graduate, is Dead at 78

 

Dale Miller, a former Ventura County Fire Department battalion chief who attended John Muir High School School and graduated from Pasadena City College in 1957, died July 20 after a fight with cancer. He was 78.

Miller more recently served as president of the Oakhurst, Calif. Community Center Board of Directors and the Oakhurst Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Man of the Year

Miller was born in Ventura on April 14, 1937, to Dewey and Hazel Miller. He attended John Muir High School and graduated from Pasadena City College in 1957.

In 1960, Miller started working for the Ventura County Fire Department, assigned at Station 45 in Simi Valley. In 1965, he was promoted to captain and in 1975 to battalion chief.

Miller was a president of the Simi Valley Noon Rotary Club in 1991, a member of the Elks Lodge who named him Man of the Year and was a member of the Simi Valley Historical Society.

He spent 15 years volunteering with the Simi Valley Youth Baseball where he was president for two years and assisted many other community charities and events.

When Miller retired as fire battalion chief in 1992, he and wife Barbara moved to their new home at the River Creek Golf Course.

An avid golfer and community activist, Miller was serving as the president of the Oakhurst Community Center Board of Directors at the time of his death. He was also a member of the Elk’s Lodge in Oakhurst, board member of Sierra Ambulance, past president of the Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise Rotary Club, member of the Sierra Pines Church Men’s Ministry and of the Men’s Golf Club at River Creek.

It was Miller who came up with the idea of the Elk’s Safety Awards that honored six Mountain Area first responders in 2013.

In retirement, Miller enjoyed socializing and meeting weekly with his fellow ROMEOs – Retired Old Men Eating Out – for breakfast and fellowship.

Miller is survived by three sons, three daughters, and 12 grandchildren.