About Richard K. Miller

I was born in Fresno, California and raised on a small farm (80-160 acres) in Tranquillity, California, the fourth generation of the Miller family to live and work there. Tranquillity is a very small unincorporated farming township in western Fresno County with a population of about 800. Three of my four grandparents were born and raised on farms in Oklahoma and migrated to California about 100 years ago. The fourth grandparent was born and raised on a dairy farm in Missouri before migrating to California in the late 1800s. I met my wife, Beth Parrish, when she was in the 6th grade and I was in the 7th grade in Tranquillity Elementary School. (We recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.) I graduated from Tranquillity High School, as did my wife, brother, both of my parents, and all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins on the Miller side.

My grandfather—who had an 8th grade 

 education—led the Tranquillity Irrigation District which supplied irrigation water for all the farms in the township. He also chaired the School Board at the high school and his name is on the agricultural shop building. My father followed in his footsteps and took over leading the irrigation district when he passed away. Together, they led the District from the early 1920s through 1989, when my father retired.

In school I was interested in math and science, in building model airplanes and Heathkits (and other things), and in music—at one point considering a major in music in college. In addition to serving as the first trumpet in the marching band for three years, I became involved playing keyboards by ear in several rock bands in high school and college, at one point playing on stage with the “warm up band” for Janis Joplin (UC Davis, 1968).