William D. Miller

Credit: "About Town," - Tonawanda News - Saturday, July 26, 1975

By Middleton Dan

"The death this week of Bill Miller ends an era, indeed.  He had worked at R. T. Jones Lumber in NT for 72 years, reporting for duty until just about two months ago.

So far as we know, he was the only person whose career in the lumber industry linked today with the heyday at the turn of the century.  Our lament is that we didn't have a chance to interview this remarkable man, whose memory of all the lumber greats and villains remained sharp throughout his lifetime of 89 years.

A NEWS reporter planned to interview him for a feature about a year ago, when he was temporarily sidetracked in DeGraff Memorial Hospital.  Bill was somewhat hard of hearing, and the hospital moguls quite understandably suggested his response to questions might disturb the whole floor.  So it was put off, and now the remarkable man has left us.

We only hope the Tonawandas Historical Society recorded his memories of the lumber days.  How about it, Mr. Dittmar?"