Carl Miller 1949-2023: ‘An artist and writer’

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Carl Miller
December 16, 1949 – December 19, 2023

In memory of Carl Miller, who passed away peacefully shortly after his 74th birthday on December 19, 2023. He died at home after a two-year struggle with prostate cancer. 

Carl was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 16, 1949 to Allen and Norma Miller. He graduated with a BA is Biology in 1971 from Case Western Reserve University, but very quickly found a normal career unsatisfying, and within a year moved to California to become a hippie and a poet instead. He did quite a bit of traveling in the classic hippie van before settling in Humboldt County in 1974. He lived in Redway for a few years before building a homestead in the woods north of Briceland, where he would spend the rest of his life.

He spent a lifetime pursuing his passions and doing what he loved.  He wrote thousands of poems about his interests and his everyday life, such that when he went to local poetry readings and recitals, he had to lug a bag filled with tome sized binders with him before he eventually upgraded to a laptop.

While for most of his life he identified primarily as a poet, he was passionate about all forms of art.  He drew a comic strip series called Jane Doe for the local alternative newspaper Star Root from 1977 to 1979. In 1988 he became a published author, with a fantasy novel called Dragonbound, which was successful enough to grow into a trilogy with it’s two sequels The Warrior and the Witch and The Goblin Plain War. In the ‘90s he formed a “chamber jazz/raga” music duo with Dau “the Pied Piper” Freitag, which were a regular feature at the local Summer and Winter Arts festivals for many years.

In his later years he would return to comics with an epic (and sadly unfinished) sci-fi adventure comic called Molly Blue, which he published online. In his final years, he started another, Antventures, as a side project, which was a remake of a series he made when he was 10. 

No matter how mature he got, he never lost his sense of childlike wonder. He nursed a lifelong love for dinosaurs, cartoons, and silly jokes. He loved puns and song references, and could turn any conversation into a musical with an almost encyclopedic memory for classic rock and roll lyrics.  Though he decided to pursue the arts instead, he never lost his interest in the sciences. He loved reading books and watching documentaries, and talking about them with anyone who’d listen. 

Carl had a profound sense of generosity and fairness for the people in his life, often going above and beyond to help his family, friends, and neighbors when they were in need, and was never afraid to speak his mind or stir up trouble when he felt the situation called for it. He will be dearly missed.

He is survived by his son, Russell (Rusty) Miller-Baker, and sister, Linda Miller Costa.

Memorial services to be announced at a later date.