Kenneth Miner

One year ago today, our father, Kenneth Lee Miner, "Papa", died in Estes Park, Colorado. A memorial service was held for him on April 3rd, 2019 in Moultrie Georgia. He is survived by two daughters, Kepler and Esla Miner, and six granddaughters: Darwin and Sagan Shire, Ella, Hilary, and Olivia Shirk, and Wilson Davis.

Our Papa died the evening of March 28th, 2019, after suffering a stroke. He was surrounded by his family, who were grateful to be there as he passed, holding his hands, and singing songs, until he took his very last breath.

Papa was born on May 27th, 1936 in Ithica, New York. He was an amazing man, it's hard to know what to highlight. He grew up poor, but not of content, character, or intellect. He was a self-educated man, who taught himself multiple languages, philosophy, classical literature, history, as well as how to play the banjo and guitar. He achieved all of this on his own, meanwhile working a variety of manual labor jobs. He also served a stint in the army, and then ended up in NYC.

It was in New York City, in his early 30s, where he met our mother, Gloria Carlton, who liked to say that she "discovered him", as he was indeed brilliant, yet had never even thought about college. She set him on the path; starting with City College in NYC, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and earned a Phi Beta Kappa key in 1969; from there he went straight through, ultimately getting his PhD in Linguistics at the University of Indiana in 1975, and then landing a professorship at the University of Kansas in the Department of Linguistics one year later.

Papa was man of content and character. He is, and will be missed. We will honor his memory and legacy., which can be surmised by a quote from one of his journals:

The fool world would not give the time of day, yet gave the day itself, from which I took the world. – Kenneth Lee Miner (1936-2019)