Ron (R.C.) Miller & Patricia Lutz Miller - 2002
MHS 1958 & 1960 Graduates
Patricia Lutz Miller, Class of 1960, and Ronald C. Miller, Sr., Class of 1958 were nominated by William Palmer. Pat and Ron have worked together to build a business and have given tirelessly to their community, especially its youth.
Ron, who was affectionately called R.C. by his mother, moved to the Minerva area in 1952 with his mother, step-father, and five siblings. His mother died from leukemia five years later. At the age of 16, Ron began his career in the trash-hauling business as a way to help provide for his family. He also found time for sports playing football, being a captain of the Minerva Lions his senior year, and playing Hi-Y basketball. After graduation from high school, Ron worked for the Minerva Waxed Paper company in the afternoon while continuing to form the customer base for his trash-hauling business mornings and weekends.
Pat and Ron met in high school in 1956. In high school Pat excelled academically and musically, becoming a member of the National Honor Society, the Minerva High Band, Y-teens, and Crescent staff. She graduated as salutatorian of her class. She also shared Ron's love of sports, supporting Ron and her five older brothers in sporting events. After Pat graduated in 1960, she and Ron were married and raised three sons, Ronald, Jr., Timothy, and Richard.
As the trash hauling business grew, Pat and Ron became partners in this venture as well as in marriage. Ron was able to devote full time efforts to the operations side of the business while Pat maintained an office, initially out of their home. From the beginning, it was clear that they were an effective team complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. Pat was conservative with an excellent mind for the accounting aspects of the business. Ron was an innovative, risk-taker with a keen sense of what was needed to expand the business.
Together they accomplished many firsts in the solid waste industry. In 1962 R.C. Miller Refuse Service was the first hauler in the area to invest in a compaction type truck. Other notable achievements were the entrance into automated collection systems and the construction of a recycling center. The automated collection system is something that Ron is particularly proud of. It afforded his drivers to do their work from the comfort of the cab of the truck and eliminated much of the back-breaking labor associated with the job.
R. C. Miller Refuse Service was rated in the top 100 waste-hauling companies in the United States for four consecutive years, reaching all the way to number 42 prior to the sale of the company in 1998. At the time of the sale, the company employed 215 workers, many of who were Minerva area residents, serviced 40,000 residential accounts, 350 industrial accounts and 2,500 commercial accounts. The recycling facility was among the top in the country in retrieving usable products from the waste stream. To further conserve landfill space and enhance the recycling process, R.C. committed much time and effort towards developing fuel pellets from the waste. Although this effort never came to fruition, it demonstrates R. C.'s desire to be a good steward of the earth's resources.
R. C. Miller Refuse Service, Inc. was featured in several trade magazines, including Waste Age and Recycling Today. In 1994 the company received the SCOPE award from the Canton Chamber of Commerce, which honors Stark County Owned Private Enterprises "In Recognition of Outstanding Business Achievement in Stark County." Ron served as Ohio Chapter Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Association for many years and received the Association's prestigious Distinguished Service Award in 1996.
In 1996 Ron and Pat along with approximately seventy employees, family members and friends worked several weekends to paint the entire interior of the three story Belden Grade School in Canton. Among their many saved mementos are letters from the children of the school expressing their appreciation. Ron and Pat are active supporters of the Habitat for Humanity program. Until the sale of the company, R.C. Miller Refuse Service worked closely with the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Canton by supplying the organization with refuse removal services at no charge. For this the company was awarded the "Golden Hammer Award" in 1996 and had a Habitat home built on 25th Street in Canton in honor of the company. Ron and Pat continue to support the Habitat movement by participating in home building, donating land for homes, mentoring homeowners and serving on committees.
Throughout their lives Ron and Pat have unselfishly given back to the community in countless ways. Ron coached little league baseball and football, helped build a football field at Bicentennial Park, helped build the high school football practice field, now the band practice field, and has been a member of Rotary for thirty-three years, serving as president in 1978-79. Pat was instrumental in organizing and building the YMCA in Minerva. In recognition of her efforts, Pat was honored with the YMCA Red Triangle Award. When her boys were in school, she headed a parent-teacher group aimed at eliminating drug activity, and she was a member of the football mothers club. Both Ron and Pat are strong supporters of the Minerva schools.
Pat and Ron have both been active members of the Minerva United Methodist Church for many years. Ron served as chairman of the church trustees. Pat has taught both youth and adult Sunday school classes most of her adult life and is a member of the church's community outreach program, the Worship Committee and the Shepherd's Staff.
In retirement Pat and Ron, besides enjoying their five grandchildren, continue to give of their time and resources. Ron recently completed two years as President of Alliance Country Club and currently serves on the board of the Tri-County Area Habitat for Humanity, the SPR Committee of his church, and is a member of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of Central Stark County. Pat is a member of the Entre Nous, the YMCA of Central Stark County Board of Trustees, as well as working part time in her son’s business in Canton. Both Pat and Ron continue to give resources to their church, the YMCA, Habitat for Humanity, the Minerva Public Library, the J. R. Coleman Center in Canton and the Kent State University Stark Campus.