~ IN MEMORY ~
USAF veteran, NWA Capt. Richard “Rick” Miller
November 14, 1934 ~ March 20, 2026
Richard Noel Miller joined Northwest Airlines 10-19-1964
and retired with Northwest in 1994. Rick
is survived by his wife Carole, and by his children and their families.
PCN memorial site
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/richard-miller-obituary?id=61097894
Richard Miller Obituary
Rick was born in Duluth and enjoyed growing up on Lake Superior's north
shore and surrounding woodlands. Later, he attended Hamline University as a
history major. After graduating, he joined the Marine Corps as a pilot and then
flew for Northwest Airlines until retiring in 1994. He and Carole Senty (who
was a flight attendant) were married in September of 1975 and enjoyed 50
wonderful and adventuresome years together.
Rick loved everything about the outdoors, including all the activities that
could be shared with his much loved family and good friends. This often
involved boats or canoes on lakes or rivers and being in the woods with ticks
and mosquitos. And, the family dogs joined in too. He had a great sense of
humor…telling hilarious stories, clever puns and dad jokes.
He enjoyed road trips with Carole, especially in the Southwest. After Rick
retired, they began wintering in Arizona, where they had a circle of wonderful
friends, who were mostly Canadian. They especially enjoyed having their
children and grandchildren visit them, often for great hiking trips up into
Colorado and Utah.
Years before retiring, Rick and Carole built a home on Leech Lake in northern
Minnesota. Rick's family had a long history on Leech Lake, and this
"cabin" was to be their retirement home. The family enjoyed the cabin
for many years…until Rick decided that winters were too cold there, and that
golf in Arizona was a better idea. Fortunately, Leech Lake has a favorite
resort that Rick & Carole, and five generations of family were and are able
to enjoy summers there.
_________________________________________
A son's farewell:
My dad passed away on Friday, March 20th, at the age of 91. I can tell you he
was a great dad, husband, brother, uncle, grandad, friend, person. And he lived
a big and long good life. A fighter pilot in the Marines who became an airline
pilot during the golden age of air travel. Unsurprisingly for a boy from
northern Minnesota, his passions were all outdoors – fishing, hunting, camping,
canoeing, skiing, and in retirement golf. But he also loved reading, Jeopardy,
and devouring crossword puzzles. Parkinson's disease eventually deprived him of
all that, yet he remained upbeat and cheerful to the very end – I like to think
because he knew he had maxed out life about as well as one man can. I'm sure he
didn't quite know what to do with a weird kid like me, but that didn't stop him
from being supportive of all my creative endeavors growing up. I knew I was
lucky to have a good dad. And though I've long forgotten how to field strip a
rifle, he also showed me something far more important – the value of being a
likeable person, the type of person others might want to be around. Now Captain
Miller is taking one final flight. I hope to a place where fish never stop grabbing
at your line. Love you pops.
-- Josh
Rick is survived by his loving wife Carole; 4
children, Kevin (Carla), Eric (Pam), Teresa "TJ" (Greg) Watkins, and
Josh (KJ); 5 grandchildren, Keara (Matt) Neumann, Eva, Nealon, Cece (Mckail)
and Addy; and great grandson Milo.
A private celebration of Rick's life will be held
at a later date.
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