I’d originally planned this blog post last year when Granda would have been 90 but the words just weren’t coming together. To be fair there really couldn’t be any words that would befit such as gentleman.
Robert Henry “Robbie” Miller was born 29th September 1933 in Legahurry, County Londonderry to a single mother Annie Isobel Miller. Granda was raised by his maternal grandparents before moving in with his aunt Mabel when they passed away. With Annie being one of eight children, wider relatives were lead to believe that Granda was Annie’s brother rather than her son. Much to my regret, not a lot is really known about Granda’s early life other than he got his first job in the brick works. In 1960 he got a job as a bus driver which would become his main profession for the next 38 years. We always called him number one driver due to the fact that he was the best driver out of all of us. He spent five more years doing security before retiring altogether at the age of 70. What I found touching was that Granda also made sure that his friend got a job doing security as well so that they could both retire together having started on the buses at the same time. His friend had started out as a conductor but was forced to find other employment when bus conductors were no longer required. The punctuality of being on the buses never left him as he would remark “Shanny’s late” if I was even a minute delayed in appearing. Not that without fail he would have always greeted me with “alright” or “alright Shanny”
Now I’ve always heard how in his youth Granda would have either walked or cycled the entire distance if he wanted to venture into the main city centre. On this particular occasion he happened to be using the bus, which was full to capacity, in order to get home with a friend when this young 19 year old girl climbed aboard on her way home from a dance. His friend said to him “why don’t you give that girl your seat?” to which Granda replied “I will not but if she wants she can sit on my knee”. It was a good thing she did because that 19 year old was his future wife Nellie whom he married on 11th March 1958. They would remain married for the next 61 years with three children, eight grandchildren (seven made it to be adults) and four great-grandchildren. Two more great-grandchildren have arrived since Granda’s passing. I should also say that there were several springer spaniels along the way too, it always amazed me how Granda just asked the dog to do something and they did it.
Probably the earliest memory I can recall of being with Granda, now I’m not sure how old I was, but I remember sitting beside him on this steam train that would have went up and down the river Foyle. Even years later he’d have still asked me without fail if I remembered him taking me if we happened to be passing the old station. His memory was always sharp! I do have some recollections of him taking me on the bus as well. Nearly always he would have known who the bus driver was. There was never anyone that Granda didn’t know! There's other vague early memories too like him reading to me or trying to show me how to fish
Now I wouldn’t never have used stubborn when describing Granda but it can be safe to say that he could beset in his ways. One moment that stands out was when he’d slipped on some ice and broke his wrist which needed a cast. Even after this he was still attempting to drive with the cast on. After one more warning about driving, without a word he went straight outside to the shed, found a blade and cut the cast off! He never complained about his wrist being sore after that!
If there is one thing I, indeed all of us, learnt from him was that there was always a solution to every problem no matter how great or how small. If he didn’t know how to fix it heal ways knew someone that could. He also demonstrated the importance of helping others with small acts of kindness even if it was something as simple as putting the bin out.
I think the word gentleman can get overused but there’s no question that Granda was indeed that. To me he was simply the man, the myth, the legend.
