William LeRoy Miller

William Leroy Miller of Albuquerque passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. He is survived by his wife, Gail Miller; their four children, Robert Miller and his wife Kristinia of Irving, Texas, Carol Miller of Albuquerque, Leigh Shoulta and her husband Jeffrey of Lenexa, Kansas, and Allen Miller and his wife Stacey of Schertz, Texas; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. "Leroy" to his childhood family, Bill grew up helping his parents, Robert and Lydia Miller, run their citrus farm in Donna, Texas. Upon graduating from high school, Bill enlisted in the Air Force in 1951, later becoming a bomber pilot during the Korean Conflict. He earned a medical discharge, and then enrolled at Texas A&I College in Kingsville. While in college, he traveled to Donna on weekends to help his widowed mother run the farm. After earning Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Physics, in 1960 Bill took a position at the Albuquerque office of the Atomic Energy Commission. He met Gail Lacy of Albuquerque and they married on February 9, 1962. They had four children over the next twelve years, while Bill continued to work for the AEC, which became the Energy Research and Development Administration, then the Department of Energy. Gail taught for APS and private schools while raising their children. Immediately after his retirement from DOE in 1985, Bill began work at Los Alamos National Laboratories, retiring in 1995. In the meantime, he and Gail traveled to many places around the world, enjoying their time together. Bill was loved for his sometimes dry, often sardonic wit and keen observations on life. He kept his love of farming well into retirement, and for decades was an avid reader.