The Jack Miller Archive

Rose Marie Miller interview.

Rose Marie commuted to school for her last semester after they were married on January 29, 1950. Jack was a freshman school, maybe a sophomore.

While on the mountaintop lookout, Jack taught Rose Marie how to shoot a 22.

We lived off canned food, and after we ate the food, we put the cans up everywhere and shot the cans. We studied Shakespeare together, and he told me logic.

Jack also taught Rose Marie to love literature. She always enjoyed reading, but that was just random novels. He got me into real good stuff, and I just began to read everything he was teaching.

Jack taught me more that one summer than I learned in four years at the University.

Location: Siskyou Mountains, Southwest, Oregon

That summer we lived in one room on top of the mountain—glass all around. We had free “housing” and enough money to pay for the groceries that were delivered to our lookout. I learned to cook and bake on a wood stove and to travel down the mountain to get clean, fresh water from a mountain stream for washing and drinking. I also learned how to shoot a .22 rifle. Since we had a lot of empty cans, Jack taught me how to shoot to hit.

Mice were plentiful and came out at night to scamper around our room. Often Jack chased them with a broom or tried to shoot them. Finally I said, “Why don’t we take the tops of the empty cans and nail them over every opening or crevice?” He said, “They could never get through those cracks.” But we did nail everything shut and the mice stopped coming. I was content.

Miller, Rose Marie . NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD (Kindle Locations 3359-3374). New Growth Press. Kindle Edition.