William "Bill" Miles

TRAVERSE CITY - William (Bill) Miles, 81, best known for his sardonic outlook on life, wry sense of humor, and the fact that at one time, he was the only male in a house with his wife and nine teenage daughters, died (October 31) at Munson Hospice House. The son of William Livingston and Kathleen (Jamison) Miles, Bill was born on July 28, 1942, in Belfast, Northern Ireland during a Nazi bombing raid, an event no doubt responsible for some of his quirky behaviors later in life. In 1950, he emigrated, not by choice, with his family to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and in 1954, again not by choice, to River Rogue, Michigan. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1961. Bill received his BA and MA in English Literature from Wayne State University and his MA in Library Science from the University of Michigan. His professional library career included positions at the Detroit Public Library (including the Burton Historical Collection), Central Michigan University, Northwestern Michigan College, and the Traverse Area District Library. From 1969 until his retirement in 1999, he served as a faculty historical research librarian in the Clarke Historical Library and a reference librarian in the Park Library, both at Central Michigan University. He was the first faculty librarian in the history of CMU libraries to be promoted to the rank of Full Professor. While at CMU, Bill also spent a year in the Research and Grants Office of the College of Graduate Studies, taught Advanced Composition in the Humanities for the English Department, and served as Adjunct Professor in the History Department, developing and teaching a course in Archives Management. He wrote four books. The first three being bibliographic studies relating to American presidential election campaigns. His fourth being a reference on Michigan atlases and plat books published and distributed to libraries in 1975 as a Bicentennial publication of the State Library Services Division of the Michigan Department of Education. He also published many monographs and articles on Michigan state and local history, popular culture, and higher education in professional and popular journals, magazines, and newspapers. He spoke frequently at local, state, regional, and national conferences and meetings. Bill was awarded numerous research grants including a Samuel Foster Havens Fellowship from the American Antiquarian Society. In 1973, he was selected as one of twenty participants from throughout the United States to attend the annual summer Seminar for Historical Administrators held in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. In December of 1999, he was awarded the rank of Professor Emeritus by Central Michigan University. Obviously, having had a lot of free time on his hands, Bill enjoyed reading, listening to music, especially classical and contemporary music, doing crossword puzzles, attending art shows, festivals, and galleries, interior design, and eating out, the latter no doubt contributing significantly to his high LDL levels. Bill is survived by his children, Amy of Eaton Rapids, MI; Kourtni (Jon) Rader of Corvallis, OR; Emi of Austin, TX; Kelsey (Charles) Hyslop of Dallas, NC; Morgan (Stephen) Dix of Rapid City, MI; Julia of South Williamsport, PA and Lindsay, Whitney (Nathan) Richardson,Jasmine, Tevin, and Sean, all of Traverse City; brother, Brian (Renee) of Houston, TX and their children, Jamison and Laura; sister, Margaret of Tampa, Florida, and her children, Mark and Aaron; brother Richard of Trenton, Michigan, and his daughter Julia; and grandchildren, Nathaniel Maekawa; Cody, Andrew, Kayla, and Natalee Richardon; Joseph, Leo, and Derek Dix, and Cheyenne Hyslop. Bill is also survived by sisters-in-law Laurie (Robert) O'Brien and Sheryl (Joseph) Elliott of Traverse City; brothers-in-law Michael of Gaylord, Michigan, and Craig (Lisa) Goodrich of Traverse City; and his special friends, Marly Hanson and Bridgette Hutchinson. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Jennifer Jamison Miles, parents, William and Kathleen (Jamison) Miles, and his dearest friend, Shirley Goodrich. Cremation has taken place. A celebration of life will be hosted on his birthday weekend by his children on July 27, 2024 at 11 am, with a gathering from 10 - 11 am at Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home in Traverse City. Please sign Bill's online guest book at www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com. Those wishing to honor Bill's memory may do so by directing contributions to the "Jenn Miles Memorial Arts Fund" at St. Francis High School. BTW, the bank of Bill is now officially closed.

William "Bill" Miles

July 28, 1942 - October 31, 2023