GREENSBORO — Frank Miles Jr., 91, passed away on Sunday, December 9, 2012, at Wesley Long Hospital.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, December 12, at 2 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Burial will be in the Miles family plot in Masonic Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa.
Frank was born in Des Moines on April 19, 1921, and graduated from Drake University, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
A distinguished World War II veteran, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps on December 9, 1941. He served as group bombardier in the 457th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force, England, flying 24 combat missions. He left military service with the rank of captain.
Following the war, he worked as a sports reporter for the Des Moines Register before co-founding Frank Miles Public Relations. He subsequently worked for Carl Byoir and Associates, where his clients included Minneapolis-Honeywell, Chemetron Corp. (Chicago), and Bulova Watch Co. (New York). In 1962 he returned to Chicago to become Public Information Manager for S&H Green Stamps, and later served as Director of Public Relations for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. He retired from a 31 year PR career in 1979.
After six years as an office supply store owner in Scottsdale, Arizona, he enjoyed a second retirement to Madison, Indiana, where he was president of the Madison Lions Club and an active member of the county's Historical Society. He also authored a history of the 171-year-old Madison Presbyterian Church, and a book on the early years of the Chautauqua movement in Indiana.
In 1992, Frank and his wife Nancy relocated to Loudon, Tennessee, where he wrote a weekly sports column for the Tellico Village Connection and indulged his lifelong passion for the game of golf.
A Greensboro resident for the past five years, he has devoted his time to writing and tending his roses. An active churchman throughout his life, he has served as deacon, elder, church treasurer, and Sunday school teacher. He was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro at the time of his death.
He was a steadfast and caring husband and father. His family and friends remember him with love, and celebrate his rich and rewarding life.
Frank was preceded in death by his parents, and by his brother, Bill, a bomber pilot in World War II who lost his life on a mission in Italy in 1944.
Frank is survived by his wife, Nancy Hall Miles; sons, Frank Miles III and wife Gigi, of Carlock, Illinois; Jeff Miles and wife Rebecca, of Greensboro; and Mark Miles and wife Ann, of Jefferson City, Missouri; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Memorial gifts may be made to Westminster Presbyterian Church.
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