He was named Wendell Robert Miller when he came into this world on April 9, 1939. However, if his myriad friends suddenly discovered his real name was Leonardo D.V., they would not have been surprised.

Wendell spoke four languages, played five musical instruments, sang in Barbershop quartets, and played football. He was a writer for Disney Studios, National Sales Director of Disney Records, and Sales Manager for the Hot Wheels Division of Mattel Toys. Wendell was an excellent cook and food enthusiast who brought to life and operated numerous successful restaurants in the Seattle area. He could have single-handedly brought back the Renaissance!

Wendell’s travels took him far from Long Beach where he was born to parents Robert Collin Miller and Mary Ruth Herrick Miller. He graduated from Wilson High School in 1957, and attended Long Beach City College. Wendell was equally at home in Paris bistros, climbing mountains in Germany, or fishing in Mexico, Alaska or Puget Sound (or anywhere he could get a boat into water). If, instead of Leonardo, we learned Wendell’s real name was Elmer, we would still have thought it appropriate. Wendell stuck to his friends like Elmer’s Glue. He had hundreds of friends (83 years’ worth) from high school, Europe, Mexico, and virtually everywhere in the USA. As one might suspect, Wendell worked at building a vast network of friends. They were precious assets to him, and he could not bear the thought of losing even one. He did not need Facebook or Twitter to stay in touch. Anywhere, at any time, you might pick up your phone and hear Wendell’s friendly voice asking about your life and catching you up on his. You might open an envelope and read amusing tales of Wendell’s adventures, in a style as facile as one of Wendell’s Disney scripts. Friends joked that Wendell was probably still in touch with the baby in the crib next to his at Long Beach Cottage Maternity Hospital where he was born. It may not have been a joke!

Wendell’s friends were not his only life assets. On December 17, 1983, Wendell and Fern Rostad were married and embarked on almost 40 years and hundreds of thousands of miles of shared experiences. Travel was their passion as they enjoyed Europe, Canada, and countless Mexican Destinations. Wendell’s friends and family became Fern’s, Fern’s became his, and Wendell’s adventures became their shared adventures. His joyous mania for entertaining friends was matched by Fern’s own addiction to welcoming a constant stream of guests to their gracious homes, and traveling thousands of miles to return those visits. Although not a church-going man, Wendell’s life and conduct would have made most churches comfortable with his presence. There are those who believe each star in the heavens is a human soul. Wendell would have been tolerant of that idea. If it is true, a blazing and mighty star was born 11pm, May 25, 2022, when Wendell Miller passed peacefully from his home in Show Low, Arizona into the heavens above us to join a bright cluster of family and friends who made the journey before him. Wendell’s brother Marvin Miller, sister-in-law Karen Miller, and nephew Ian Miller (all of Long Beach, California), his adoring wife Fern Miller of Show Low, Arizona, and a host of Wendell’s surviving friends throughout the world will recognize Wendell’s star. It is not cold and distant, but shines with a warmth that goes straight to our hearts, no matter how far away from us he is.