Service Saturday for retired Topaz Lake volunteer firefighter

A celebration of the life is 2 p.m. Saturday for retired Yerington veterinarian and Topaz Lake volunteer firefighter Dr. Robert S. "Doc" Miller, 80, who died April 25, 2009, at Renown Medical Center in Reno with his daughters at his side. The service will be held at Yerington Vineyard Fellowship Church, located at 307 Broadway.

Dr. Miller served as a volunteer firefighter with the Topaz Lake Volunteer Fire Department for 10 years after he retired from his veterinary practice.

Retired Chief Bob Gable said Dr. Miller was active during the heyday of the volunteer system.

"He was a good firefighter," Gable said. "He and Bud Seamus, who was my assistant chief, were a real team. They ran the water tender. Bud was the driver and Doc was the hoseman."

As hoseman, Dr. Miller had to pull the hoses that connected the tender to the fire engines.

"They did some great firefighting off that tender," Gable said.

Even after he retired from pulling hoses, Dr. Miller would be one of the first people down at the fire station when the siren went off.

"Even when it got to the point that he couldn't go on calls, he would still come down to the station and say, 'what can I do?'" Gable said. "We were all family."

Born Aug. 20, 1928, in Sharon, Penn., Dr. Miller received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Washington State University in 1961.

After four years working in Modesto Calif., he moved to Yerington in January 1966 with wife Bobbie, daughters Holly and Leslie and son Mark to set up his own practice.

Dr. Miller practiced in Yerington from 1966 to 1992 at which time he retired with his second wife, Anne, to a home at Topaz Lake where he could continue to fish and enjoy the outdoors.

Dr. Miller loved to fish, hunt, backpack, camp, hike and ski. Weekends were made for adventures into the great outdoors. His indoor hobbies included building remote control airplanes, tying fishing flies, playing piano and watercolor painting.

Dr. Miller's wife of 25 years, Bobbie, and his second wife of 10 years, Anne, preceded him in death.

He is survived by children, Holly (Richard) Bromley, Mark Miller, Leslie (Brad) Lyles; grandchildren Matt, Chris, David and Karen Bromley; Codi Miller; and Jessie and Lauren Lyles; stepchildren Sean O'Dell and Shannon Enox and their children Caitlyn, Stacie and Rachel.

Friends and clients are encouraged to come and share their favorite and funniest memories.

Written accounts may also be brought to the memorial or mailed to Holly Bromley, 9390 Pagoda Way, Reno, NV 89506 and placed in a memory book.

Donations may be made to the Yerington Animal Protection Society, P.O. Box 14, Yerington, NV 89447.