Bob the builder

Published 1:25 pm Thursday, October 23, 2008

Is you chair broken, refrigerator not running, tree down or car not working? I’ve got your man!

Handyman and jack of all trades, Bob Miller has also been a scout leader for 55 years, a deacon, a 30–year choir member and a teenage mentor. For years he took personal vacation off from work to go on youth choir tours as their sound specialist. He has also been on numerous mission trips.

Bob and wife Diana have lived in Alabaster for 33 years and are parents of Bob and Traci. He and Diana have six grandchildren. Being a band parent at Thompson High School (Bobby played clarinet and Traci was a majorette) meant trips, concession stand duty, fund–raisers and much more.

Originally from Detroit, Mich., he is now well–known in Alabaster for his big heart and active life style. He has been retired seven years now but works several days a week at his church painting, plumbing, sheet rocking and remodeling the Sunday school rooms and offices.

Bob meets no strangers.

Claire and Mary Ann Harrington used to call him Dr. Miller cause he came to fix everything broken at our house. I guess they thought everyone was a doctor of some sort.

Bob has two older sisters and one younger sister all still living in the Detroit area. After high school Bob decided he didn’t want to spend his life doing the same old work. He joined the Marines and eventually was stationed in California, Florida and Tennessee. He even picked up a little souvenir, Diana, while in Memphis.

After returning to Detroit, his southern wife nearly froze, hated Detroit and it was decided Bob would attend SMU in Dallas on the GI bill. From this point on the family hop scotched from Dallas to Atlanta to El Paso, Los Angeles, back to Memphis, Pelham, Winston-Salem and finally to Alabaster where Diana had bought a foundation and a bunch of trees.

In the early 1980s, Bob spent three months at a time in Saudi Arabia with Accurate Services (refrigeration specialists). He finally retired from Vulcan Engineering. He remains very active, even at 76.

Bob the builder –– not only a builder of things but a builder of young folks, too.