Jack Miller Obituary

Jack Miller
October 31, 2022

Jack D. Miller passed away peacefully at his home in Colorado Springs on October 31, 2022, with his wife, Jo, and daughter, Sherri, at his side.
Jack was born in South Bend, Indiana, August 25, 1940. Upon graduation from Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio, Jack enlisted in the Navy and became an aircraft avionics technician. It was while he was stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station that Jack met Joan Lee from Bellingham, Washington, leading to their marriage in 1960.
After Jack's honorable discharge in August, 1961, he began his long association with the U.S. Air Force – first as an employee of Hallicrafters Company, where he oversaw aircraft electronics (moving four times), and then in 1966 as an Air Force Civil Servant at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska, where he focused on airborne reconnaissance systems and the EC-135 "Looking Glass" airborne command post.
In 1976, Jack was assigned to oversee the Air Force Satellite Communications System ("AFSATCOM") for Strategic Air Command – newly designed to provide worldwide command and control of the United States nuclear arsenal. It is here that Jack picked up the nickname, "Jack SAC," while he led the equipping of the president, commanders, bombers, and missile launch control centers with the means of securely controlling our nation's nuclear weapons. As technology improved, Jack oversaw the inclusion of thousands of non-nuclear military users worldwide.
When SAC was disestablished in 1992, Jack and his entire office moved to Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, where he continued his leadership over a multitude of satellite systems that now enhance our military's ability to operate in any environment, anywhere. Jack retired from Civil Service in 2003.
In addition to Jack's love of our country, Jack loved his cars! At his last count – unless he lost count – he had owned 43 cars. It's clear he enjoyed both the price negotiation and that "new car smell"!!
Jack is preceded in death by his father, Merle D Miller, and his mother Lois Miller. He is survived by Joan, his wife of 61 years, his son, Michael, and daughter-in-law, Odelia Jane, of McClelland, Iowa; daughter, Sherri, and son-in-law Fritz Buglewitz, of Bellevue, Nebraska; brother, Paul, and sister-in-law Sara, of Kankakee, Illinois; sisters-in-law Sandra Rohrich of Everett, Washington, and Dyan Ewing of Seattle, Washington; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He will be interred at Pikes Peak National Cemetery in Colorado Springs. A private ceremony is planned.