This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: marcenath Surnames: Miller, Walker, Wright Classification: obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newmexico.counties.donaana/4938/mb.ashx Message Board Post: August Miller, 76, of Las Cruces died at La Posada Mesilla Valley Hospice on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 after a brief illness. He was the fifth child of Marc and Velma M. Miller. He was born November 28, 1933 in the family home in Isola , MS . He began elementary school in Moorhead, MS . The family moved to Richmond , CA in February 1943 where he at tended Nystrom Elementary School with wartime half-day classes. The family then moved to Berkeley , CA where he at tended Oxford Elementary School from the fall of 1943 through the spring of 1945. After two years of attendance at Garfield Junior High school , his family relocated once again in 1947, that time to Laurel , MS where he at tended Stewart M. Jones Junior High School . He graduated from Laurel 's George S. Gardiner High School in the spring of 1951. He spent his freshman year of college at what was then Mississippi Southern College in Hattiesburg. In 1952 he transferred to the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico St at e University ) where he worked part time at the Physical Science Laboratory. He majored in physics and was awarded a B.S. degree, with High Honors, in June 1955. He then worked for three months at North American Avi at ion's Autonetics Division in Downey , CA before entering the graduate physics program at the University of Maryland . He worked as a temporary employee of the Douglas Aircraft Company, Santa Monica , CA during the summer of 1956. After completing the requirements for a M.S. degree in the summer of 1957, he returned to New Mexico A & M and entered the newly inaugurated doctoral program in physics. He completed his dissertation on "Multipacting HF Electrical Breakdown in Low-Pressure Gases" and received a Ph.D. degree in June 1961. He was hired as an "Engineerin! g Design Specialist" by the Goodyear Aerospace Corporation in July 1961 and worked at their plant in Goodyear , AZ. After a year with Goodyear he moved on to work at the Northrop Space Laboratories (NSL) facilities in Palos Verdes , CA and at Hawthorne , CA . On December 23, 1963 he married Darlis Ann Miller, whom he met through his sisters Ann and Sylvia both of whom had known Darlis as a Girl Scout Counselor at the GSA Flying G camp in Colorado . In February 1964, they moved to Las Cruces , NM where he was employed half-time by New Mexico St at e University while remaining a half-time employee of NSL. In the fall of 1964 he was hired full-time as Assistant Professor of Physics at NMSU where he served as a faculty member until his retirement at the rank of Professor the summer of 1991. During his tenure at NMSU, he was Head of the Physics Department from Dec. 1978 until June of 1983, and served on a number of faculty committees, as a member of the Gradu at e Council, the Faculty Sen at e and the University's Computer Advisory Group. While at NMSU he carried out research in the areas of gaseous electronics, laser beam transmittance in the earth's atmosphere, and did some work on the topics in elite meteorology. His principal hobb! y was as an am radio operator, a service for which he was first licensed by the Federal Communication Commission in 1952. After his retirement from NMSU he devoted a considerable amount of time to the development of a computer program he named MieTab, which performed calculation of electromagnetic wave scattering by homogeneous spheres and displayed results graphically on personal computers. MieTab was well received and has been used by scientists on all continents but Antarctica. He is survived by his wife Darlis, sisters Sylvia Walker of Menlo Park, CA, Ann Wright of Reno, NV, brother-in-law Dean Miller and his partner Ann DeBusschere of Reno, NV, brother-in-law Frank Menke of Menlo Park, CA, special friend Ellen Taliaferro Reno, NV, many nieces and nephews, and many friends and colleagues. He was preceded in death by his brother Marc Miller and sisters June O'Shaughnessy, Kathleen O'Shaughnessy, and Marilyn Lindquist. A brief memorial service will be held on Monday, November 15, 2010 at 10:00 A.M. at La Paz - Graham's Funeral Home, 555 W. Amador Avenue . In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of August Miller may be made payable to the New Mexico St at e University Found at ion, P.O. Box 3590, Las Cruces , New Mexico, 88003. Please state that the gift is to support the Marc Miller - Velma McClellan Memorial Fund, a fund August established to aid physics students at NMSU and to honor his parents. To send the Miller family condolences log on to www.lapaz-graham.com Published in Las Cruces Sun-News on November 16, 2010 Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.