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Aviation icon dies at 102
Aviation icon and Poughkeepsie resident John Miller was pronounced dead this morning at Vassar Brother Medical Center. He was 102.
Miller's daughter, Trish Taylor, said Miller died from natural causes after spending two night at the hospital.
"He was aware that he wasn't what he used to be and it really annoyed him," Taylor said. "He had a health fetish and he always ate right. He never took prescription medication until the very end."
Miller, who began flying when he was 18, was an active participant in this country's aviation history. He and Emilia Earhart were acquaintances and he witnessed Charles Lindbergh take off for his history-making, nonstop New York to Paris flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.
Three of the airplanes Miller has flown are exhibited at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.; and he was the first to land an aircraft on the roof of a building -- an autogiro, the precursor of the helicopter. Miller was a test pilot during World War II and retired in 1965 as an Eastern Airlines pilot.
Taylor said Miller made his last flight about two years ago. She said Miller's last words were made to his nephew.
"He said 'I guess my flying days are over'," Taylor said.
Taylor said her family is planning a private memorial service and that Miller did not want a traditional funeral.
Instead, the family is following through with Miller's request to have his body donated to the Anatomy Gifts Registry.
"It was his way of being modest," Taylor said. "He wanted his body donated to science."
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