Roland William Miller

Roland William Miller peacefully returned to his heavenly home on July 25, 2023. He was age 88. Roland was born on June 7, 1935 in Naperville, Illinois to Paul and Frances Miller. Roland’s descendants were great adventurers (his paternal grandparents traveled the Oregon trail with their infant son by coach wagon from Iowa due to his grandmother’s failing health – she lived to be 100, and his maternal grandparents immigrated to Oregon from Saskatchewan, Canada), instilling in Roland a sense of exploration, industriousness, and intellectual curiosity that guided him throughout his life.

Roland’s parents met at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where his father earned his degree in engineering and his mother earned her degree in physics. Roland’s father’s petroleum engineering job brought the young family to Galveston, Texas, where Roland and his two brothers grew up exploring the Texas coast, fishing, hunting for shark’s teeth and sand dollars, and enjoying the Texas sun. However, each summer, his Canadian-born mother would escape the Texas heat with her boys by loading everyone up on a train to Estes Park, Colorado, where the family would spend the summer in the “Onyx” Cabin at the YMCA of the Rockies. Roland graduated from Dickinson High School when he was 16 years old and loved going back to his high school reunions.

His love for Colorado led Roland to attend the University of Colorado (he declined his acceptance to Rice because it was not air conditioned), where he was a member of the ROTC and following in the footsteps of his father he majored in engineering. After graduation, Roland served as a lieutenant with the U.S. Army in Bamberg, Germany. Following his Army service, Roland took his first job as an engineer with Esso (now Exxon) at its oil refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was in Baton Rouge that Roland met and married the love of his life, a beautiful young elementary school teacher (and Baton Rouge native) named Carol Deer, to whom he would be married to for 60 years, and with whom he would have two doting children and four doting grandchildren.

Roland’s job with Exxon brought the young family to Houston, and Roland took full advantage of introducing his young family to his Galveston roots with many Sunday drive trips to Sea Arama, dinners at Gaido’s, rides on the Bolivar Ferry, and weekend trips at the Jack Tar Hotel and Stewart Beach. Roland was a fabulous gardener and raised the most beautiful hydrangeas and delicious radishes with his kids. He also built an amazing treehouse with a slide, and a swing set, in the backyard that was the envy of the neighborhood, and a huge regular neighborhood treat for the neighborhood kids was to hop into a wagon towed by Roland on his riding lawn mower. Roland and Carol also loved their Houston friends, and played many a late-night bridge game after tucking the kids in.

Eventually, Roland was transferred to New York with Exxon, and he and his young family enjoyed many wonderful years living in Darien, Connecticut, where they took advantage of going to Broadway plays, taking long drives in the fall through the Connecticut countryside to pick apples and pumpkins (Roland was a meticulous jack-o-lantern scraper), having cookouts on the local beaches, and boating and fishing on the Long Island Sound. In Darien, Roland and his son loved being members of the Indian Guides, going on fun camping and fishing adventures in the Connecticut countryside, and making pancakes at the Pancake Powwow. He also took up snow skiing for the first time in his 40’s, and enjoyed many beautiful Vermont ski trips (especially enjoying the apres-ski Stratton Mountain Boys) and instilling in his kids a lifelong love for skiing. Always loving a good deal, there was rarely a Darien weekend “tag sale” that Roland missed, and he accumulated quite a collection of sleds and other snow apparatus accentuating the new snowy winter experience. Being a history buff of sorts, he also loved being near so many battlefield sites that served as many a weekend (and occasional spring break) trip.

Roland’s job with Exxon also brought the couple to Florham Park, New Jersey, where they lived in Chatham and developed a penchant for New Jersey diners, great Italian food, and fun trips to New York on the Path Train. Roland’s job with Exxon ultimately took the family back to Houston, where he and Carol would retire and have the pleasure of living nearby their children and grandchildren.

The couple purchased a lake house at April Sound on Lake Conroe, and a mountain house in Estes Park that Roland named the Onyx II in honor of the YMCA of the Rockies cabin where he spent his childhood summers. Being a do’er, Roland relished the many projects that came with these properties, always having an up-to-date “caper list” that he would tackle with sweat band and toolbelt in tow. The couple also took advantage of the opportunity to travel the world, with some of their favorite trips being those where they generously took along their entire extended family, including ski trips, cruises, and exotic Caribbean vacations.

Roland loved and supported and believed in his children and grandchildren and encouraged them to have fulfilling careers and loving and tightknit families. Preceding Roland in death by only a couple of weeks is his soulmate and loving wife, Carol. He is also preceded in death by his parents and by his youngest brother, George Miller. He is survived by his daughter, Susan Schwager (Charles); his son, Steve (Donna); his grandchildren, Sam and Haley Schwager and Erin and Molly Miller; and his brother, Allen Miller, as well as many nieces and nephews. Dad (Hipop), we will love you forever and will be inspired daily by you.

Friends and family will gather for a celebration of Roland and Carol’s life on Friday, August 11 at 10:00 a.m. at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home, 13001 Katy Freeway, in Houston, where the Rev. Katie Montgomery Mears of St. Luke’s Methodist Church is to officiate.

Immediately following the service, all are cordially invited to greet the family and share remembrances of Roland and Carol during a reception. Gifts in Roland’s honor may be made to the YMCA of the Rockies.