As most of you will already know, our dear friend John Miller, sadly passed away on January 11th after a short illness. John was many things, a loyal, loving husband of 39 years to Ros, a supportive, caring father to Stephen and Jonathan, and Granddad to Ben. He was a constant influence on their lives and was always there for them. Many of you will have seen John at our NUDSA social evenings, as a committee we have alot to thank him for, John was forever helping us, either driving people and equipment to various places, setting up for us, taking messages at home when Ros and Stephen weren’t around, and making sure our Toon Times got to the printers on time and into the post. John’s hard work was very much appreciated by us all.
Of course there were many other qualities to John, l personally only knew John for eleven years but wasn’t surprised to see so many people at his funeral, nor was l surprised to hear about the way he had conducted his life. It was obvious to see that John’s number one priority was his family, and even though it was mentioned a few times with a smile, that he liked to have his say, and wasn’t adverse to the odd complaint, you just had to hear him talk about his boys and their achievements to know how he felt about them, and how proud he was. He brought them up to work hard and instilled his own solid family values into them. l saw over the years that John although happy to remain in the background, was the rock that kept the family strong. I learned alot about John after hearing so many wonderful stories about his life on the day of his funeral. I knew that John loved motorbikes, but didn’t realise that most of the milestones in his life, getting married etc had revolved around the TT meetings. I knew he liked to potter in his garden and garage, he was usually in there whenever l called, but was amused to hear that John didn’t like to throw anything away that might come in handy, and had boxes of screws, nuts and bolts in the garage for a rainy day. I loved the story about the sprouting potatoes being planted between the flowers in the garden so as not to waste them. I realised that there were so many things that John had done in his life, he had worked hard, had a wonderful marriage to Ros who he has loved for forty five years, and had two sons who had made him proud. That is a great achievement in itself, he knew what was important to him and he just got on with it. So no, in summing up, l’m not surprised there were over one hundred and fifty people who came to show their respect for John at Whitley Bay crematorium. They all knew him in a different way, family, friends, colleages and acquaintances, all with a different story to tell of how John had touched their lives. There were alot of young people there, friends of Stephen who had known John and admired him. People who had travelled miles to be there, some who hadn’t seen John for years but who needed to say goodbye and pay their last respects.
My own memories of John are of an honest, caring man who had a natural rapport with people, he loved to have a chat and put the world to rights, but always did it with a sparkle in his eye. For me, John was a “diamond in the rough” which is “someone who has hidden, exceptional qualities”. After seeing the impact John’s death has had on so many people, it is clear that he was a very exceptional human being.
Thank you John for being part of our lives, we were honoured to call you a friend and to have known such a gentleman.
Amanda Sawyers
Yesterday was the day that ex-Newcastle United player Gary Speed apparently took his own life. This terrible news was greeted with general horror and shock that such a well adjusted and stable person had seemingly chosen to commit suicide. It is still hard to comprehend and I cannot begin to imagine what his family and friends are going through. All we can do is offer our best wishes and pay tribute to a man who touched many lives and who lived his life as well as anyone would love to aspire to do. 
