Lessons from My Father
From the open skies of Wyoming, here’s this month’s short story about ranch life, an insight I learned from my family, and a piece of trivia.
Story
I have had two exceptional mentors in my life who shaped the man I would become, and any
mistakes I made along the way were my fault alone. The first was my father, Frank E. Miller
(1919–1999), who managed the Miller Estate Co. ranch during the years I was growing up. The second was Dr. George C. Frison (1924–2020), Wyoming’s first state archaeologist and longtime anthropology professor. Both took me under their wing and taught me about their professions.
This month, I’d like to tell you about my father.
Frank Miller was a third-generation Wyoming rancher in Carbon County. He worked for his
father, whose father had served as Rawlins’s first mayor in 1886. Dad grew up around livestock, understanding the behavior of both sheep and cattle and developing a close bond with the horses he rode. He sat a saddle as well as any man who ever worked the Wyoming range.
Just one semester short of graduating with a degree in agriculture from the University of
Wyoming, he enlisted in the Army Air Force in late December 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He spent the next few years in the jungles of New Guinea, preparing photographs of bombing raids and damage assessments as enemy forces hid in enclaves scattered throughout the surrounding tropical rainforest.
In 1990, the centennial year of Wyoming Statehood, he donated hundreds of these photographs to the American Heritage Center so future researchers could learn more about the Southwest Pacific theater of operations during World War II.
Throughout his ranching life, Frank built well over a hundred miles of fencing that defined our pastures for seasonal grazing and rest rotation. We ran sheep until 1973 and cattle until he retired on December 31, 1983. He had worked his way up from a hired hand alongside his father to manager of Miller Estate Co. Dad also served as its president for nearly twenty years. In 2022, he was posthumously inducted into the esteemed Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifetime achievements.
My brother and I worked as his hired hands until his retirement, Rod eventually becoming foreman. I learned the meaning of commitment and dedication by watching Dad work with livestock. His lessons still guide me today, influencing my thinking and love of horses.
I owe him and Mom a lot.
Insight
The best way to influence livestock behavior is with quiet attention, patience, and a positive attitude. Over the years, I’ve found that these traits work pretty well with people too.
Did You Know?
Domestic livestock provides numerous products besides meat, including hides for clothing, ingredients used in medicine, materials for sporting equipment, and fertilizer.
Until next time,
Mark Miller
Frank Miller: “You need to know where you are all the time, Mark. You and your horse are out there alone, and nobody can help you if you get in a fix." From A Sometimes Paradise.
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