Joseph Potter Miller
July 29, 1924 – November 23, 2009
The Rev. Joseph Potter Miller, who served as an assistant priest or priest in charge of several congregations in the diocese, died on Nov. 23. He was 85.
Services will be held on Saturday, December 12 at 2 p.m. at St. Peter’s Church, San Pedro. Miller was married to Doris Chott in 1953, and the couple had four children: Helen, Geoffrey, James and Ann.
Miller served as an assistant for Latino ministries at St. Philip’s Church, Los Angeles, and as priest-in-charge at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Pico Rivera, in 1989. He was previously an assistant at Church of the Magdalene, Los Angeles, (1984 -1988), Emmanuel Church, Fullerton (1979-1984) and St. Cross, Hermosa Beach (1978), and as priest-in-charge of Holy Nativity Church, Westchester (1977). He served as a supply priest in the San Bernardino area in the early 1970s.
During his ministry, Miller was also an engineer and a teacher. He was fluent in Spanish, and often served as assistant for Latino ministries, and was a member of the diocesan Hispanic Commission. He was particularly interested in the charismatic renewal movement, and wrote an opinion article on that topic for the Episcopal News in 1978. He was a teacher of aikido, a nonviolent form of martial art in which he held a second-degree black belt.
Miller was ordained to the diaconate in 1970 and to the priesthood in 1971 after receiving a certificate of theology at Bloy House (the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont).
Joseph Miller was born on July 29, 1924, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, and took graduate classes in mathematics at Marquette University. During World War II, he served in the United States Air Force (1942-1945).