Ralph Vernon Miller Jr.

Ralph Miller passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, August 21 at the age of 87. He was born to Bernice Stevens and Ralph V. Miller, Sr. in 1928 in Cushing, Oklahoma, and his family moved often to follow his father’s job with the Santa Fe Railroad. His mother taught English and gave Ralph his quick wit. A child of the Great Depression, Ralph made the best of every situation he faced. Each time his family moved, Ralph saw the opportunity to make new friends; and, thanks to his warmth, charm, and adaptability, he maintained his friendships for life.

As a boy, Ralph played baseball and had a steady job as a paper boy, handling as many as three newspaper routes at once on his bike, eventually saving enough money to lend his parents for the down payment on his family's first home. While at Central High School in Oklahoma City, Ralph traded school hours for drafting work with the City Planning Department, filling in for the men who left to serve in WWII.

His favorite uncle Dwight was an architecture professor and inspired Ralph to become an architect. Upon completing the architecture and engineering program at OSU Ralph was awarded the American Institute of Architects medal for achieving the highest grade average for the five-year degree.

Ralph served his country in the Korean War as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers where he was responsible for the design and construction of everything from bridges and fortifications to combat facilities in the front lines of the conflict. Thanks to the GI Bill, he was admitted to Harvard but chose the Princeton masters program instead to study under Jean Labatut and Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic dome designs electrified Ralph. Little did Ralph know he would later reencounter his hero “Bucky” when he participated in the design of the Houston Astrodome.

After graduate school, he joined the Skidmore Owings and Merrill architecture firm in New York City to work on projects for the Rockefeller family until his school buddies convinced him to move to Houston where a building boom was underway in the late 1950’s.

In 1961, Ralph joined Lloyd, Morgan and Jones to design the master plan of the 25-acre American General Center in Houston. The American General Building, now called the Wortham Tower, won two AIA awards and remained Ralph’s favorite work of his career. He went on to be the project architect for the master plan of the Greenway Plaza complex, its first two office buildings and garage, and the Houston Natural Gas Building downtown.

In 1964 Ralph married Janie Jefferson and they had two beloved daughters, Beth and Kate. For Ralph, family was always number one. As his family grew, he opened his own practice in 1969 and designed the Hilton Inn and several other buildings in the burgeoning Brookhollow Office Park, the 4900 Woodway Tower, and Mustang Tractor’s Caterpillar headquarters complex on Highway 290, to name a few.

Ralph was a man of complete integrity and had a magnetic personality that attracted people of all ages to him. He was down to earth and always had a sparkle in his eye, a mischievous grin, and a story to tell. Selfless and modest to a fault, he never tooted his own horn and always counted his blessings. Dad was a great provider and partner, a loving father and grandfather, and a role model to many.

Thanks to dear friends, surgeon Gerald Lawrie and cardiologist Mohammed Attar, Dad lived an amazing 25 more years after heart surgery, enjoying his family, playing golf, building his cabin in Bastrop, and especially spending time with his grandsons, with whom he traveled around the world and loved to watch play baseball and sports. Ralph stood tall and resilient to his last day, just as the buildings he designed have stood the test of time. We will miss him dearly.

He is survived by his wife, Janie, daughters Kate Miller and Beth Rivera, son-in-law Robert Rivera, grandsons Robert (Baz) and Christopher (Zeke). He was predeceased by his sister, Mary, and leaves his sister Betty and her husband, Dr. Franklin Baker and their daughters, Dana and Melanie, of Oklahoma City; his sister Ann Hinsley and her daughter, Shannon of Sunnyvale, California; his cousins Mary and Dick Young of Ames, Iowa and their children; cousins Judy and John Rogers and Phyllis and Charles (Tex) Spear of Houston and their children.

A family service was held at River Oaks Baptist Church on August 25, and we will celebrate Ralph and the many cherished friends who enriched his life with a party at Beth and Robert’s home the evening of October 3, 2016 at 6:30pm. We look forward to seeing you there.