Legendary Local Newsman Dies
Earl Miller's title,
Record-Argus Editor, retired
with him in 1977
Article written by Natalie
Kennedy Record-Argus
Our Town Editor / Friday
October 15, 2004. |
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C. Earl Miller, 21-year editor
of The Record-Argus whose
employment with the newspaper
spanned five decades, was
remembered Thursday in glowing
terms as "a newspaperman's
newspaperman" by Publisher Bob
Bracey. |
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Miller died Wednesday night. He
was 92. |
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A lifelong Greenville resident,
he jumped head first into the
profession which would make him
a local legend. His Record-Argus
position, coupled with a deep
rooted interest in his hometown,
made him a well respected pillar
of the community. |
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"Earl was the heart of
Greenville and the area," said
Miller's longtime friend Harvey
Childs, Bail USA chairman and
director of marketing. "He had a
super knowledge of sports and
history." |
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That knowledge of sports landed
him his first editor's position
here: He was sports editor for
14 years. |
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"He was very good," said Coach
Ed Snyder, former coach at Penn
High School, from which Miller
graduated in 1930. |
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I don't know how to express it.
He was a nice fellow to work
with. I felt he was very into
the profession which fair in all
of his writing," said Snyder.
"He promoted the sport and he
got people interested."
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Miller's lifelong friend Dr.
Frank McElree agreed.
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"I remember him running up and
down the fields at the football
games and at the basketball
games, taking notes and getting
the guys' numbers from their
jerseys," said McElree.
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But sports was just part of
this multi-faceted man's
experiences. |
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When he graduated, Miller had
dreams of studying fine arts in
college. He worked that first
summer at the newspaper, then
left. for Pittsburgh, attending
Carnegie Mellon University for
two years. When he ran out of
money, he came back to the
newspaper - and stayed for 45
years. |
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"He learned reporting at the
knee of The Record- Argus,"
McElree said. "He's been ethical
and thorough in is chosen
profession." |
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Writing everything from town
council stories to society and
sporting events, Miller worked
his way up through
the ranks of a staff of 35 -
including carriers. |
Depending on the season, Miller
would staff as many of the games
as he could, cover
school board and town meetings
as well as club events, all in a
day's work. |
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Because of his hard work and
devotion to his career and his
community, he went on to become
city editor and news editor
before being named editor in
1956. He succeeded John L.
Morrison, longtime editor, owner
and publisher. After John
Morrison and his father, Levi
Morrison, who converted the
paper to a daily in the late
1890s, he became only the third
editor in the daily's history.
That title retired with him in
1977. |
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"He has no peer, no equal
reporting. It's just a huge
loss," McElree said. |
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Childs added, "He will be
missed. He was something else, a
very unusual man and a good
friend. I spent a lot of time
with him. We met when I started
in the bail bond business. He
was curious about the bail bond
business and always gave me good
press. |
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He was always happy when he saw
me write a few bonds around
Greenville. He used to stop
around maybe once a week, and I
always had time for Earl,"
Childs said. "Even the way he
bounced around and his
personality - he was very
invigorating to Bail USA. |
"He was a stamp collector, an
autograph collector and a
romantic," he continued. "There
are very few people in
the history of this area who
have been like Earl Miller. He
was sharp and smart to the very
end." |
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Among the many hats Miller wore
was resident historian. Having
descended from two of
Greenville's early families, he
was a student of local history
and helped found Greenville Area
Historical Society as a charter
member. |
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Greenville Area Historical
Society member Tom Hodge
recalled Miller as a great
storyteller. |
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"He gave one or two of our
lecture series talks," Hodge
said. "He gave a very
interesting talk on The
Record-Argus. And he told a lot
of amusing stories about people
he met. And he liked to talk of
Camp Reynolds. He spoke of Joe
Lewis being down there, too, and
mentioned briefly the race riots
in 1944." |
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Camp Reynolds, Miller said in a
1999 interview with this
newspaper, "was a story in
itself," adding the camp's
paper, The Camp Reynolds Victory
News, was also published at The
Record-Argus. |
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No doubt he would soon have
shared some fascinating tidbits
with the public on that topic;
Miller died exactly seven days
before his scheduled lecture on
the beginnings of Camp Reynolds
as part of the Greenville Area
Historical Society Lecture
Series. |
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His writings on local history
include the 50th anniversary of
Camp Reynolds in 1992. |
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Always civic minded, during the
1960s, while serving in.
Greenville Business Men's
Association, Miller helped to
shape the borough during its
heyday. |
"Those of us who worked in the
historical era - the 1960s and
redevelopment of downtown
Greenville - we never
could have done it without Earl
Miller and his work with the
newspaper," McElree said. "We
all owe Earl Miller lot. You
think Greenville is a dismal
place today - Greenville
wouldn't be half of what it is
today without Earl Miller at the
newspaper." |
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Though Miller's knowledge of
local history is quite possibly
unmatched, he also dabbled in
world history and set forth
collecting autographs of the
world's best-known individuals |
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"He started collecting
autographs around 1934," Childs
said. "Back in those days, when
you asked for the autographs of
these famous people, they sent
them back to you. |
"His collection goes back as far
as the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor, to Francisco
Franco - and he took a deep
interest in astronauts and in
space. He had a fantastic col-
lection of all the space people. |
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"Miller's collection contained
2,800 autographs. He later sold
the collection to Childs.
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"When he had it up for sale and
he had his reasons for selling
it - I didn't want to see it get
out of Greenville. I bought it.
I hope in the future, we'll find
a place in Greenville where we
can keep it. |
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Miller's legacy extended into
his retirement, when he often
stopped by the newspaper office
to see what was going on.
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"He would come in and look
things up in the files. He was
always very interested in issues
and things," said former
Record-Argus Society Editor
Yvonne Raymond. "He wanted to
keep up on what was going on. He
was very good at pointing out
potential stories for us to
check into." |
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"Like good newspeople, lie
couldn't let it go," she said of
his nose for news, adding
journalism was in his blood. "He
always had his nose in the
business, even after retirement.
He was very good at keeping
track of what was going on in
town and letting us know."
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To say hell be missed is an
understatement, many noted. |
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"His loss is an irreparable loss
to the Greenville area," McElree
said. "He's been a preeminent in
the newspaper reporting business
for the last 70 years." |
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Those nearly 70 years are ones
he spent with his wife, the
former Elta Bernice Mayberry,
whom he married in 1935. She
survives, as do his children,
Gary Earl Miller and his wife,
Tillie, of Erie; his daughter,
Mrs. Thomas (Vanetta Lynn)
Frampton of Pittsburgh; 10 grand
children; three
great-grandchildren; and four step great-grandchildren.
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Frank Frampton, former publisher
of The Record-Argus, now living
in Wayland, Mass., praised
Miller. |
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"Earl and I have been friends
since the sixth grade. We
graduated from high school
together in 1930. With Earl
serving as editor of the paper
when I was publisher, I knew we
were producing a quality
product. He knew what was right
and did what was right. I will
miss him." |
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But of the career he loved so
much, Miller best summed it up
in his 1977 farewell column.
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"From the sidelines I have
observed that few
non-journalistic careers
appeared to offer as vast a
range of opportunities.
Newspaper work today provides
the same excitement, the same
challenges and the same
satisfactions as when I was a
cub reporter. Its field of
public service has remained
undiminished with the passage of
time," Miller wrote. "Thanks for
the memories, everyone, I will
cherish them forever."
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- 30 -
The symbol -30- in earlier days
of newspapering meant a story
was proofed and ready for
publication. It was part of the
daily production cycle during
Miller's tenure as editor. |
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