MILLER LUMBER - Key Persons

, Ham's son, assumed company presidency in 1966. Bill grew up through the company rungs, as his first job as a child was feeding the wagon horses at the barn across the Deschutes River from what is now Clyde McKay Park. He served as a Navy fighter pilot in WW2 and earned both a Bachelor of Arts and an M.B.A. from Stanford University before returning to work alongside his father. In its earliest years, Miller Lumber contracted the entire cut of a mill - located four miles southeast of Bend - and hauled the lumber back to town with horses to be planed and stored for local retail or shipped for wholesale throughout the country. In 1915, the company sold the planing mill and established a yard-style setup that has stuck. In the late 1930s, Prineville became host to the first branch outside Bend, foreshadowing openings in Redmond, Madras and, for a short time, Burns. Before landing solely on the retail side of the business, Miller Lumber became versed in the volatile Central Oregon economy and accumulated veteran experience across the lumber gamut, including logging, milling, planing and building. In fact, in 1941 Miller Lumber was not only offering to build your house, but also to finance it. Bill's eight children without much choice became company employees, starting out dusting and emptying ashtrays before working up to positions in the store, yard or office. Now there are only three left. In the 1980s, the middle child, Charles C. (Charley) Miller, became general manager after graduating from Oregon State University with degrees in engineering and business. He now is company president. Siblings Harry C. Miller (computer science, University of Oregon and U.S. Navy) and Constance M. (Connie) Marshall (computer science, Oregon State University) and brother-in-law John F. (Jack) Crowell (business, University of Northern Florida and U.S. Navy) retired in 2015.