Cecil Miller: Led a World Mission
Philadephia Inquirer, News Section, April 17, 1996
Dr. Cecil John Miller, 67, a Jenkintown pastor, seminary professor and world mission leader who had helped Ugandan refugees, died April 8 at Clinica San Antonio in Malaga, Spain, of complications from heart surgery.
Dr. Miller was in Spain serving the World Harvest Mission, an organization he helped found in 1983. The group grew out of requests, in 1979, from Ugandan refugees for assistance with their spiritual and physical needs after dictator Idi Amin was deposed.
``He assembled volunteers from New Life Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, which he had founded, and from Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, where he had taught evangelism and practical theology,'' said a daughter, Roseann Trott.
``He led volunteers through Kampala's neighborhoods, shoveling trash into a borrowed garbage truck, urging Ugandans to believe the day of hope and rebuilding had come to their nation,'' she said of Dr. Miller's work in Uganda's capital city.
Dr. Miller was born in Gold Beach, Calif., and received a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University in 1953 and a bachelor's degree in divinity from Westminster Seminary in 1966. He earned his doctorate in English literature in 1968 from University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif.
He moved to Jenkintown in the mid-1960s and taught at Westminster for many years. He was pastor of Mechanicsville Chapel from 1965 until 1972.
Also surviving are his wife of 46 years, Rose Marie Carlsen Miller; a son, Paul; other daughters, Ruth Correnti, Barbara Miller Juliani and Keren Heppe; three brothers; three sisters; and 24 grandchildren.
Friends and relatives may call after 5 p.m. tomorrow at Calvary Chapel, 13500 Philmont Avenue (at Bustleton Avenue) in Northeast Philadelphia, where a service will be held at 7 p.m. Burial will be private.
The family suggests contributions to Literature Ministry Fund of World Harvest Mission, Box 2175, Jenkintown, Pa. 19046.