Los Angeles
County
Biographies
LEROY
B. MILLER
For
more than thirty years Leroy B. Miller has been engaged in a successful floral
business in Alhambra. During this period
of time he has not only become the leading florist in this section of the San
Gabriel Valley, but he is also the oldest florist in Alhambra. Mr. Miller has built up an exceptionally fine
business. Although he operated two
stores at one time, he now centers all his interest in his attractive shop
located at 311 West Main Street, where he has six employees.
Mr.
Leroy B. Miller is a native of Sharon, North Dakota, born on January 5, 1904,
to Roy A. and Jennie B. Miller. Both
grandfathers fought in the Civil War.
After receiving his elementary and high school education in Fargo, North
Dakota, Mr. Miller then attended North Dakota State College for two and one
half years. During his school and
college years he was active in all kinds of athletics.
Mr.
Miller came to California in 1925, settling in Downey where he was engaged in
growing bulbs for two years. He went
east to marry Miss Fay French. The
Miller’s have two sons, born in 1944.
Both attend Arcadia High School.
Barrett Lee Miller is a member of the high school band, while David
French Miller is a pitcher on the high school baseball team. The Miller’s are charter members of the
Church of the Good Shepherd, Methodist Church of Arcadia. Mrs. Miller is a Rotary Ann in Alhambra and
active in Auxiliary work at Arcadia Methodist Hospital.
Before
coming to Alhambra, Mr. Miller was employed for three years by two large
florists in Los Angeles, where he received valuable experience. Mr. Miller moved to Alhambra in 1930, and
located his business in the same block where he now has his florist shop.
He
has taken an all absorbing interest in the Tournament of Roses. He is patron and member of the Tournament of
Roses Association. From 1945 to 1949 he
was chairman of the committee of construction of the Alhambra Float in the
Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. In
1953 he founded the corporation Miller and Hastain, Inc., for the building of
floats. He builds approximately twenty
floats a year. In appropriate
recognition, the Alhambra Float which he had built in 1947 won the Theme Prize,
and in 1960 the Long Beach Float built by Miller & Hastain, Inc., won the
Sweepstakes Prize. Mr. Miller has won on
an average of three major prizes a year, and he is still winning them.
The
firm of Miller & Hastain, Inc., was dissolved in
1961. The new firm is Miller
Brothers. Leroy B. Miller’s brother,
Wally Miller, from Auburn is the new partner.
Active
in local and civic affairs, Mr. Miller is a member and past president (1950) as
well as past director of the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce. He is a member and past president (1946 to
1947) of the Alhambra Rotary Club. His
fraternal affiliations are with the Masons, Granada Lodge No. 608, and
Elks. A very important business
affiliation is the Florist Telegraph Delivery Association, of which Mr. Leroy
B. Miller was district representative from 1954 to 1955.
Mr.
Miller’s hobbies are fishing and boating.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 696-697, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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