DONALD MAXWELL MILLER (1913-1995)

I have been writing a column for the TAMS Journal. When I decided that Donald Miller was not appropriate for that column, I decided to write him up for The E-Sylum instead.

Donald M. Miller was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, on August 1, 1913. He was the son of Lewis Earle Miller (1881-1954) and Mary Elizabeth Fleming (1881-1953). His father was an attorney.

Donald graduated from Juniata College in 1934 with his degree in commerce and finance. He went on to Dickinson School of Law and graduated in 1939. He practiced law with his father briefly until 1942.

Miller joined the U. S. Navy in 1942 and served on the United States Army Transport Fairfax in convoy service across the North Atlantic. He also saw convoy service in the Mediterranean. They provided support for the invasions of Sicily and Salerno, Italy.

Late in the war, he was a communications officer in Seattle, Washington. He left service with the rank of lieutenant.

Miller returned to the practice of law with his father in 1946 and continued until the death of his father in 1954. Later he was a partner with his daughter, Pamela, in the firm Miller and Miller.

Donald was married three times. He married [1] Betty Dorothea Rephorn (1912-2000) while still in college in 1933; then he married [2] Anne Louise Franson (1921-2009) on June 14, 1947; then he married [3] Rita Mae "Dolly" Lewonas (1926-2013) in 1956. He had two daughters and one son.

Perhaps the most interesting wife was Dolly. She attended modelling school in New York and worked as a photo and fashion show model. She earned the title of Miss Cinderella of Television and Cover Girl Queen.

Miller was a director of the Elderton State Bank from 1948 until 1987 and was then director emeritus after 1988.

He joined the American Numismatic Association in 1941 as member 8430 from his address at 1470 Philadelphia Street in Indiana. Miller was a charter member of the Token and Medal Society (TAMS) in 1960.

In the Oct-Nov 1964 issue of the TAMS Journal, president Virginia Culver announced the creation of the Donald M. Miller Merchant Token Award to be presented at the annual banquet for the best exhibit of merchant tokens at the ANA convention. I spent hours attempting to compile a list of winners. This is the best I could do:

1965 - Arlie R. Slabaugh
1966 - Arlie R. Slabaugh
1967 - John A. Wafer
1968 - No Exhibit
1969 - No Exhibit
1970 – Dottie Dow
1972 – Max M. Schwartz
1973 – Ronald J. Benice
1974 – Robert W. Craigo
1975 – No Award
1977 – David E. Schenkman

The American Numismatic Association presented the B. P. Wright Award for exhibits of tokens and medals. Most years the Wright Award was given for the same exhibit as the Miller Award. In 1977, the Miller Award was eliminated and replaced by the ANA B. P. Wright Award.

Miller lived at 155 East 14th Street and sold the house in 1962. He then bought the house at 104 North 7th Street in Indiana.

Kenneth W. Rendell issued A Descriptive List of an Outstanding Collection of Hard Times Tokens in 1957. This was a 16 page fixed price list for 154 of the 160 varieties numbered by Low from the duplicates of Donald M. Miller, formerly the collection of George L. Tilden. The entire collection was offered at $9850.

 

Miller compiled A Catalogue of U. S. Store Cards and Merchant Tokens, published in 1962. This was a revision of Edgar Adams' United States Store Cards published in 1920.

The era of Merchant Tokens generally applies to tokens issued during 1845 to 1860 and to tokens issued in the first 31 states admitted to the Union through California in 1850. Miller numbers begin with a two-letter state code followed by digits. The tokens were listed first by state and then alphabetically by city.

He was a member of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Indiana Country Club, the VFW Country Club and the BPOE Lodge.

In the 1950's, Miller attended an auction in the penthouse of a New York hotel. He got into a dispute with John J. Ford over a Hard Times Token they both wanted. Strong words were followed by a scuffle and shoving match that moved out to the balcony. Bystanders stepped in to prevent Miller from pushing Ford over the edge.

Miller may have had the finest collections of Bolen medals, Hard Times Tokens and antebellum merchant tokens. These were sold to Charles Litman in Pittsburgh.

Donald died at Indiana Hospital on April 18, 1995, and is buried with Dolly in Oakland Cemetery in Indiana.

Miller's numismatic library was acquired after his death by Wayne Homren. Items Wayne didn't want were sold through Money Tree. Wayne kept Donald's notebooks and ephemera until selling the lot through Kolbe and Fanning in 2024.

The Indiana Gazette for February 3, 1979, had a full-page feature article on Mrs. Dolly Miller and her daughter Pamela. Between them, they had nearly a thousand tin cans. These were lithographed product containers like those in an old country store and Pamela had a reimagining of an old country store in her basement. Mrs. Miller belonged to Tin Container Collectors of America. The article did not mention Donald Miller or his collections.

 

Wayne Homren visited Miller at his home at 104 North 7th Street in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Smarty-Pants question of the week: Who was the previous owner of the house and why is that important?

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