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How Will You Leave a Legacy?


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obody understands the value of an education more than someone who has worked hard to get one. That’s why Col. James Chris Miller, USAF-Ret., and his wife, Shirley, belong to the Lega- cy Circle of members who have included the MOAA Scholarship Fund in their estate plans. “I watched my parents, neither one ever finished high school, struggle through the Great


Depression, and that was not a pretty sight,” says Chris. A standout high school student, Chris received a college scholarship and enrolled in the ROTC pro-


gram at the University of Texas in Austin. He graduated with a degree in geology. After college, he be- came a B-36 pilot and later a B-52 aircraft commander and mission director and airborne commander in Vietnam. In 1965, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Mass., courtesy of the Air Force. “Once again, I found that education caused life-changing events,” Chris says. He used his MBA to save the Air Force billions of dollars and, in 1974, was promoted to colonel four


years early. A year later, he retired from the Air Force; married his high school sweetheart, Shirley; and put his education and experience to work as an entrepreneur. Over the next 10 years, the Millers bought six restaurants and several commercial buildings and be-


came part owners of numerous oil and gas wells. Chris bought and restored the flora and fauna on five ranches and helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society. Chris also honored a promise to himself to help educate the children of fallen servicemembers. Since 2006, the Col. James Chris Miller, USAF-Ret., and Shirley Miller American Patriot Designated Grant has been awarded five times to the children of servicemembers who died while serving on active duty. Through their bequest, the Millers will continue to help the offspring of fallen servicemembers in perpetuity through the MOAA Scholarship Fund.


G MILITARY O FFI CER NOVEMBER 2010 MOAA’ S MILITARY EDUCATI O N GUID E

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