Childhood, by sister, Linda Cole
 
On November 11, 1939 our parents, Mahlon F. Miles and Pauline Bernice Orwig, were married in Peoria, Illinois. Mom never liked her given name Pauline, so she went by Bernice her entire life.
 
On November 18, 1941, my brother, Bruce Lester Miles, was born just weeks before World War II began with the bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941). Dad had already served four years in the Marine Corps and was exempt from going back in the service.
 
On November 10, 1947, I, Linda Lee Miles, was born. From day one Bruce adored me, his baby sister (at least that’s what mom said).
 
When I was older and could ride a bike, Bruce and I would bike together with our dog Skippy (a shepherd mix). Skippy would take turns jumping back-and-forth over our back wheels.  We had Skippy about 10 years. After moving to Bushnell, he was getting pretty old but waited to die until Bruce came home on leave from the Air Force. He saw Bruce and the very next day he went to a neighbor’s yard and laid down to die.
 
Bruce had a Peoria Journal Star paper route in West Peoria. He would wake me on Sundays at 4 AM to help him to deliver the ‘heavy’ paper. I would pull the wagon and he would ride his bike and deliver door to door. Once in a while he would let me put a few papers on doorsteps too.  One Sunday as we waited on the corner for papers to be delivered, another kid started a fight with Bruce. I couldn’t stand for anyone to pick on my brother, so even though I was six years younger than he was, I started to pound the kid with my hands. Finally, they quit fighting.  I was very scared for my big brother.  As kids we would fight like normal siblings, but the love was always there. He always had my back and I had his. 
 
Bruce was short until he was in the service. When he was 16 and driving he would get stopped by the cops all the time, because he did not look old enough to drive. But he was able to get reduced rate theater tickets. 
 
Bruce had a spirit of adventure for almost everything. He loved airplanes. He had a room in the basement all to himself for building his model airplanes. He would spend hours building them and eventually flying them at Detwiller Park in Peoria. Every Sunday Mom would pack a picnic lunch and all of us would spend a day at the park watching him fly his model planes. One Sunday I begged him to let me fly one of his model planes that probably took him months to build. “Sure sis,” he said, and I crashed it into the ground right at the start. He wasn’t mad - just said “I can fix it.”  His joy of model planes later in life lead him to getting his pilot’s license and building a full-size plane.   
 
I believe Bruce got his love for cars, especially sports cars, from Mom’s brother, Dale Orwig. I remember begging Bruce to lend me his Austin Healey sports car that he had spent all summer sanding and repainting. “Just for the weekend” I said. He agreed and let me have it. A lady backed out of a garage into his prize car and I had to tell Bruce it was smashed. Again he was not upset. He just said “that’s why I carry insurance.”
 
Our family suffered a great loss when Mom passed away from cancer at the young age of 51 on January 6, 1969. Fortunately, Bruce’s wife, Elaine, was eight months pregnant at the time and even though Mom never saw any of her grandchildren, she was able to put her hand on Elaine’s tummy to feel the life of her first grandchild, Elyse. 
 
We will always be proud of each other and our name, Miles.  Our grandparents had a large family and often said there were 12 miles and 24 feet around their table. In his later years, our father, Mahlon, had an RV with a sign on the back saying “we are miles and miles ahead of you.” 
 
We may be “miles” apart now, my brother, but you will always be right here in my heart. 
 
Early adulthood, Elaine Gay
 
Bruce was born at St. Francis hospital in Peoria, Ill in 1941.  He lived there until (I think) his junior year in high school when his father moved his family to Bushnell to establish a Standard Oil Bulk dealership.
 
Following graduation, Bruce joined the Air Force.  He was barely 5'8.  I remember him telling me he used to drive to the movie theater and get in for under the 12-year-old price.  One of his stations in the military was on the island of Okinawa.  He served as a missile mechanic.  After he left the military, he moved back home to Bushnell and used the GI bill to attend Western Illinois University and majored in Industrial Arts.  He worked at a lumber yard in Macomb during this time and became friends with the son of the owner who also worked there. 
 
I met Bruce when I was a senior in high school.  I was a friend of his sister and cousin so he met me at his parents’ house.  We dated my senior year and became engaged at the end of the summer before I moved into the dorm.  When I would tell people in Bushnell that we were engaged, they would say oh to that little Miles boy.  I would inform them that little Miles boy was now over 6 foot 2 ". We married in 1966 and we both continued to attend Western and lived in married student housing.  Bruce became active in the Vets Club and was one of the members of the first group of "peach blossoms.”  This was a group of vets that would help the cheerleaders cheer on the footbal team.  They made quite a hit in their mop wigs, coconut boobs, short skirts, and combat boots.  They used a plunger as a pompom.  They were quite the hit!
 
Bruce had a dream of becoming an airline pilot and received his private pilot’s license while in Macomb attending school.  At that time, the airlines were accepting pilots with relatively low number of hours.  After graduation, we moved to Reno, Nevada so Bruce could attend a flight school to get his advanced flying degrees.  We moved back to Illinois in late December of that same year and Bruce took a job as a flight instructor at Mt Hawley airport in Peoria.
 
We had our first child, Elyse, while in Peoria.  Bruce wanted to be in the delivery room (which wasn't the thing to do at that time) so Elyse was born at the one hospital in the area that would allow the father in the delivery room.
 
Not long after Elyse's birth, the Vietnam war was winding down and Bruce realized with all the jet pilots getting our with thousands of hours, his dream of an airline career wasn't really plausible.
 
The next few years Bruce was involved in Industrial Arts teaching.  First as a teacher at a high school in Pontiac, Ill and then working for a company that sold educational machines for Industrial arts in Decatur, Ill and then in Minnesota.  
 
We owned our first home in Decatur and purchased it for $23,000.  There we met our lifelong friends, Rose and George Wamser who lived two doors down the street. Bradley was born in Decatur in 1972 prior to our move to Minnesota around 1973.  
 
In. Minnesota, Bruce worked for a company that sold educational machines for Industrial Arts and he often traveled for conventions, shows, etc.  He started working on building his plane in our garage there.  This was also when he faced his cancer diagnosis.  A very scary time.  
 
We moved back to Decatur when Bruce was offered a sales territory with a manager out of Indiana, I think.  He finished the work on building his plane in Decatur.  Bruce flew the Sonerai several times, but I feel he never felt comfortable with the speed and handling. After several flights he decided to sell it and I was very relieved.
Decatur was the place that most felt like home prior to our move to Denver. Bruce worked for Huff Lumber Company for a couple of years prior to going back to teaching.  Summers were always filled with construction projects.
 
In 1990 I was transferred to Denver with my job for Weight Watchers.  It took quite a while until it felt like home.  
 
In 1995 Bruce and I discussed separating but decided to try going to counseling one more time.  After several months we realized, things just weren't going to get better, and we decided to divorce.  Our divorce was amicable, and we were able to remain friends which I think we both were grateful for.
 
Later years, Barbara (Bobbi) Miles
 
Bruce and I met August 8, 1997.  We each had grown children: Elyse and Brad, and Danielle and Derek. Bruce was teaching industrial arts at Denver South High School, and I was running a research group in the Chemistry Department at CU Boulder. 
 
We found that we had much in common. The first thing was our realtor who coordinated the blind date for us. Bruce knew her as both a realtor and a friend. He often performed necessary repairs on homes she had for sale. She was also my realtor. At the closing of my new home, she asked if she could give my number to a special friend of hers, Bruce. Apparently, she had suggested another person to Bruce, but since I was a “nonsmoker”, he chose to call me instead. On that first date, I knew he was a “keeper.”  That very evening, typical for Bruce, he installed a towel bar in my new home. A few days later, I came home to find that he had installed a garage door opener for me. That sufficiently impressed me!
 
We did not waste time courting. Two days after we met, we were at the home of Bruce's good friends (subsequently both of our friends), Marcia and Jon Evers. He announced that we were getting married. We did wait three months and one day and were married Nov 9, 1997, in a private ceremony at home with close family members. 
 
Immediately our family grew as grandchildren began arriving. Bruce’s daughter, Elyse, and her husband, Mike, welcomed Amelia Coyne on Dec 30, 1997. My son, Derek, welcomed Silver Evilsizor on June 10, 1998.
 
The importance of our careers took 2nd place to our desire to increase the time we spent with each other and with family.  In December 1998, I took a teaching job at Denver South where Bruce taught so we could have summers off together. 
 
Another area of common interest was flying. Bruce not only had his pilot’s license, but also had built an airplane (Sonerai) from scratch. My favorite research experiences involved developing instruments and performing in-flight real-time experiments in a NOAA King Air aircraft. One of the things that attracted Bruce to me was that I had an iron stomach and never got air sick. Soon we purchased our own plane and named her Lucy Luscombe. Now we could more easily fly from Denver to see family and friends in other parts of the country with Bruce as pilot and me as navigator. This was an exciting time for us. 
 
Flying our own plane expanded our horizons.  In the Summer of 1999, as we were flying back to Denver after visiting family, the weather turned bad, so we couldn't make it all the way home. Instead, we landed in a small farming town in Smith Center, KS where we stayed at Ingleboro Mansion B&B for several days until the weather cleared. Just down the street from the B&B, on what the locals called Millionaire's Row, was the Relihan House, a run-down, 3-story, 1903
Victorian. Bruce and I had dreamed of renovating an old Victorian, but we could not afford one in Denver. The Relihan house was priced surprisingly low, and we were immediately intrigued.  Next time we were flying cross country, we ran low on fuel and had to land in, you guessed it, Smith Center. So again, we stayed at the B&B and were drawn to the potentially-beautiful Relihan house. We could not resist, and later that year we bought the Relihan House. We both enjoyed our mini-vacations flying back and forth from Denver to Smith Center on weekends, staying at the B&B and spending our time renovating this historic home. Bruce was experienced in construction, yet he respected my opinions, and we worked well as a team. 
 
Again, our family expanded as my daughter, Danielle Evilsizor, and Bob Baca were married Sept 3, 1999. 
 
We fell in love with the laid-back lifestyle and friendly people in Smith Center. Since it was half-way between each coast, it was a great place to hangar our plane, even though we were still living in Denver. As time went by, Bruce and I decided we would move to Smith Center if we could get employment. It was not long before Bruce accepted a teaching position in Kensington, KS (14 miles from Smith Center). But the Relihan House was far from livable, so we bought the 1899 B&B, Ingleboro Mansion, to live in as we continued our renovation project. After setting up and running the B&B, I yearned for an additional challenge. So when I was asked to become the first Director of Economic Development for the area, I accepted the position. Now we both had full-time jobs, were running the B&B and continued the renovation project on the Relihan house. We were busy and happy.
 
Meanwhile, our blended family continued to grow as Danielle and Bob welcomed their first child, Kennedy Baca, on March 30, 2001. Shortly thereafter, Elyse and Mike welcomed their second child, Ethan Coyne, on July 6, 2001.  Exactly 4 years later, Danielle and Bob had their second child, Baylor Baca, on July 6, 2005. Throughout this time, the B&B provided enough room to fulfill our dream of having all our family together at once.
 
Bruce not only enjoyed flying in his younger years, but also enjoyed sailing. We made several trips to Maine and realized what a beautiful place it was to sail. When he retired from teaching the summer of 2006, we knew we wanted to take up sailing. Knowing that we could not afford two "toys," we sold our airplane and bought a sailboat in Maine. We lived aboard it in the summers for several years and enjoyed living a simple life on the water in beautiful surroundings. 
 
By the summer of 2007, our renovation project had progressed to the point where we could move out of the B&B and into the Relihan house. We continued renovating the Relihan house and eventually added on a large garage and family room. 
 
On February 29, 2008, our family expanded again when Bruce’s son, Brad, married Mel Miles and our family grew to include 3 more grandsons: Seth, Graham and Matthew Harlan. Brad and Mel then welcomed our last grandchild, Maylin Miles, on July 24, 2009. 
 
Although Bruce and I had always dreamed of sailing from Maine to the Bahamas, it was not to be. We were both older and desired the comforts of a home during our summers, as well as a place that would entice family to visit. So we sold the boat in Maine and bought a vacation condo at Lake of the Ozark's in Missouri. We still traveled to see kids and grandkids, but now the lake provided a fun place for family to visit us. 
 
On August 12, 2010, we gained another member of our family when my son, Derek, and his wife, Meghan, were married.
 
In January 2011, after being offered a price we could not refuse, we sold the Relihan House and moved full time to our condo at the lake in Missouri. We bought a 25' Catalina Capri sailboat for racing and proved to be a formidable team collecting quite a few trophies over the next few years. We continued to hire an innkeeper and run the B&B from a distance until December 2015, when we sold the B&B and finally entered full-time retirement together.
 
Throughout Bruce's life, he readily helped students, friends and family with projects. But one of the most unique examples of his willingness to help was the way he stepped up to the plate to aid in caring for my children’s father, Gary Evilsizor. Unbelievably, the two men became friends, which proved to be something for which my children have often voiced deep appreciation. For several years until April of 2016, we made numerous trips back and forth from Missouri to Lake Havasu where Gary was living, to provide care, make repairs, and to move Bruce’s "new" friend several times. Yes, this was an unusual relationship, but it speaks volumes about Bruce's nature and the fact he could selflessly be counted on whenever a need arose. 
 
As is common with older people, we found we now wanted to spend our winters in a warm climate. So that 1st winter in January 2017, we bought a sailboat in Punta Gorda, Florida and lived on it for three months. We loved Florida, and decided we wanted to spend six months a year there, not merely three.  But at our age, that was too long for us to live aboard a sailboat.  So, in the fall of 2017 we bought a park model in Sarasota, Florida at Sun N Fun and sold our sailboat. Bruce now enjoyed racing “RC” sailboats and teaching others his new love, lawn bowling. 
 
By August of 2020, as Bruce’s mobility declined, we realized that lake life and boating was no longer possible; it was time for another move. Earlier, while visiting my daughter and family in Oregon, we discovered Bend. We found that this beautiful town, with the Deschutes River running through it, offered numerous cultural and sporting activities, and its summer climate was perfect for us. By moving to Bend, we now would spend six months in the northwest and six months in the southeast with family scattered in between.  Unfortunately, our time together in Bend was extremely limited. Bruce's health rapidly deteriorated and within a few months, on Nov 19th, 2020, the day after his 79th birthday, he passed. 
 
What an amazing life we had together: flying, racing, and living aboard a sailboat, renovating a 3-story Victorian home, running a B&B, vacationing in several places around the world, etc. But most importantly, we experienced loving and being loved by each other, family, and friends. 
 
Our faith assures us that we will be together again. As they took Bruce into surgery the last time, I said "I love you. See you soon either here or there."  His response, I realize now, was for each of us. "Yes, but not too soon, " he said. He wants us to continue our lives here loving each other and valuing our relationships above all.  We can count on the fact that he will be patiently waiting for us. 
 
Thank you, my husband, for the wonderful life we shared here. 
'Til we meet again. 
Love, Bobbi