Donald Maxwell Miller

The family will receive friends on Thursday afternoon from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at Hanes-Lineberry Funeral Home located at 515 N. Elm St., Greensboro. A Trisagion Service performed by Father Thomas Newlin will be conducted at 2:30.

The funeral service and interment will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

Don was born January 8, 1934 to the late Joseph and Jeanne Miller. Following Don’s graduation from Rutherford High School he attended Lafayette College for a year before leaving to join the U.S. Navy. After serving in the Navy he matriculated from San Diego State College with a Bachelor of Arts and the University of Southern California with a Master of Arts in International Relations.

Don served 16 years as an Infantry Officer in the 12th Special Forces Group (SFG) from 1964 – 1968; the 19th SFG in 1968; the 7th SFG 1968 – 1969, the 46th SFG 1969 – 1970, and the 7th SFG/JFK Center/1st SOCOM at Ft. Bragg from 1981 to 1986. In addition he attended the Command & General Staff College, and taught at the Ft. Benning Infantry Officer Advanced Course and the University of Iowa ROTC Department. Following his retirement from the Army in 1985 he joined the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer. During his 15 year career with the State Department he served tours in Washington, DC; Guyaquil, Ecuador; Thessaloniki, Greece; San Salvador, El Salvador; and Mexico City, Mexico.

Don is a member of the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church in Greensboro and of the Special Forces Association Chapter 57 in Asheboro, NC.

As his career shows, Don loved traveling and working and living with people from all over the world. He was a polyglot who spoke Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German fluently along with a conversational ability in Russian, Chinese, Italian, Korean, and Thai. He “went native” in whatever country he was in and as a result formed lifelong friendships with many from each country he lived in. He was interested in many subjects and enjoyed spirited discussions on controversial subjects. If he was talking with someone who held the same views on the topic that he had, he would switch to the opposite viewpoint in order to keep the conversation going. There was nothing that upset him more when he wanted to discuss a topic than to be told “yes, you’re right. I agree completely with you.” He had a great sense of humor and even up to his final hours he was telling jokes to make his wife laugh. And, of course, his love of his German Shepherds must be also mentioned.

His survivors are his wife of 36 years, Brenda Miller; 5 children, Patricia Miller of Dayton, TX; Gwyneth Cunningham (Rod) of San Antonio, TX; Brian Miller of Houston, TX; Donald Miller (Kristen Rigoni) of Laramie, WY; and Timothy Miller (Juliana) of Raleigh, NC; a step-daughter Teresa Villa (Guillermo) of San Diego, CA; 12 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren, 2 nieces, and 2 nephews.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church, 800 Westridge Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27410, Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro 2500 Summit Avenue., Greensboro, NC 27405, or an organization of your choice in memory of Donald Miller.

Online condolences may be sent to www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.