Norman Miller was born on December 24, 1932 in Tuolumne, CA. He passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends on January 19, 2025.
As the youngest of 10, Norman grew up adventuring throughout California and Texas. From fishing with old mining dynamite (to make sure the younger kids didn’t hurt themselves with it) to picking up odd jobs around town (but not blacksmithing – it didn’t run in the family) to being the school bus driver his senior year (don’t ask about his driver’s license test), there were always things to do, people to meet, and things to learn.
Norm joined the Army in 1954. He married his childhood sweetheart Mary Lou Levaggi in 1955 and started a family. Together they had five children: Toni Miller, Theresa (Bart) Allen, Louie (Jamie) Miller, Tina Ralston, and Tracy Miller (Chris Leonhard). After the death of Mary Lou in 2002, Norm married Betty Chase and brought his loving and caring ways to her family and friends. With another family and even more friends, Norm had a new captive audience to tell his amazing stories. Norm was a beloved grandparent to numerous grandchildren who meant the world to him.
Many of Norm’s stories involved his time in the Army. He chose to join the aviation branch after attending a presentation where the cash sign on bonus “fell” out of his instructor’s flight suit pockets. He flew helicopters through Korea and Vietnam and across Central America, flying in and out of remote and sometimes dangerous locations for both missions and side quests. He loved to tell stories about his journeys, including but not limited to crash landing on the side of a mountain, building the best club for enlisted men, forced landing and peaceful communication with a tribe of uncontacted peoples, flipping a poolside bar as a prank and having it almost go terribly wrong, and making sure not a single one of his men were killed during his tenure. He transitioned to managing Schilling Air Force Base, where he proudly served the Salina community and worked with waiting wives’ groups and other community organizations.
If you didn’t know him as Colonel Norm, many knew Norm as Santa for over a 50+ year span. Always dressed in his classic red suit with jingle bells, his appearance might’ve morphed over the years (a fake beard and white chalk in the early years to proudly growing his own white beard in the later), but his ability to bring the magic of Christmas never wavered. Norm proudly served as a Santa for several generations of kids, keeping the Christmas magic alive through personal home visits, community events, radio and TV appearances, video calls, and even through hot air balloon visits.
Norm lived a busy life that filled his days throughout the years. There were always people to meet, things to do, and stories to tell. He was an auctioneer, owned and operated an antique store, participated in community theater events, did fundraising for community organizations, attended countless sporting events and concerts for his grandkids, cooked many, many Friday night dinners, read two or three books a day, and enjoyed a nice cigar with a drink (NOT water though, the fish poop in that).
Norman went by many names: dad, pop, grandpa, Colonel, Santa, friend, role model, hero. To know Norm was to know kindness, mischief, selflessness, magic, friendship, warmth, and love. He was a rule breaker with pure intentions to do what was right for those he loved and the people he served. He was a problem solver, quick-witted, and had never met a stranger in his life. Norm was a friend to all, always ready to lend an ear, tell a story, cook a meal, or host a party at a moment’s notice. We will remember Norm with a book in his hand, a cigar in his mouth, a twinkle in eyes, and a smile, ready to tell the world of his adventures.
In lieu of flowers, contributions to Child Advocacy of Salina Inc. (https://capsofsalina.org) are appreciated. Celebration of Life weekend: Saturday, Feb. 1 at Homewood Suites downtown in Salina from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday Feb. 2 at VFW on Crawford in Salina from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. with 21-gun salute at 2:30 p.m.
The Oakdale (Calif.) Leader
The Riverbank (Calif.) News
Jan. 29, 2025
