Firefighter
Henry Miller Jr.
Ladder 105
Memorial
Service was held
on October 1, 2001
Gentle
Procrastinator With one exception, Henry Miller Jr., 51, made
his way through life slowly, meticulously. He took maddeningly
long to finish anything — woodworking, roofs, stories. His Massapequa,
N.Y., garage was a testament to the potential of broken objects,
the dream of a thousand somedays when he would get around to
fixing them. (Enduring mystery: just how old was that slice
of pie found under the scuba gear and fishing tackle?) Yes,
he took his time. Spent 28 years at the job. Countless hours
giving pep talks to a woman who lived on the street; she would
later credit him with her decision to get off welfare, find
work, start a bank account. He was 45 before he married. And
like all his projects, this one glowed: "I dunno, fellas," Mr.
Miller would say to holdout bachelors, "marital bliss, it's
the way to go!" He was a steady, gentle man, slow to anger,
who covered his wife Diane and her children with a mantle of
security. He understood the value of time and unwavering persistence:
he beat back bladder cancer and smoke inhalation, too. What's
the exceptional rush? Only to a fire: Henry Miller drove the
truck for Ladder Company 105 in Brooklyn. Profile published
in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 23, 2001.
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