For Richard J. “Dick” Miller, community service was more than just getting his name out into the community. It was a calling, according to his wife of 62 years.

“He loved people and wanted to become a part of the community, he wanted to support the community,” Gloria Thompson Miller said. “He felt like he was born to help people. When he did become involved with an organization and realized the needs were there, he was always the first one to jump in and fulfill that need.”

Dick, who passed away at the age of 88 on Saturday, was the longtime funeral director for Thompson-Miller Funeral Home in Butler. He was involved in many local civic organizations including various Masonic groups, the Butler Country Club, Red Cross, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, Salvation Army, and Butler Memorial Hospital Advisory Board, according to his obituary.

Stan Kosciuszko, president of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, said Dick previously served as the chairman of the board in 1972, and was very active with the group until he became ill.

“Dick was extremely knowledgeable and a very important part of that,” he said.

Kosciuszko said Dick’s business was also an important supporter of the Chamber in many functions, including as a sponsor for golf outings, monetary support for the group and as a sponsor of the Leadership Butler County’s graduation ceremony.

“He and his wife have been very big on education and training young people,” Kosciuszko said. “Whenever you need something you call upon Thompson-Miller. He really helped make the community great.”

Gloria said Dick was active in so many organizations because he knew he could help people.

“His most outstanding characteristic was he was a very gentle man,” she said. “He loved life, and enjoyed people beyond anything else in his whole life. He loved helping people and loved to help getting them whatever it was they needed from him.”

Kosciuszko said Dick “was the definition of a gentleman.”

“If you looked up the definition of gentleman in the dictionary, a picture of Dick would be there,” he said.

That need to help led to his patriotic service as a staff sergeant in the Air Force during the Korean War following his graduation from the Butler Area High School. After leaving the military, Dick attended Grove City College, and married Gloria on June 25, 1955, she said.

He then attended the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, where he received a mortuary science degree in 1959, and began working with his father-in-law, R. Glenn Thompson, in the business that would become Thompson-Miller Funeral Home, where he worked for more than 54 years, according to his obituary.

Gloria said Dick also was a devout family man. The couple would go on to have three children: Barb, who lives in Erie, and Robin, and Glenn, who are both involved in the family business.

“His happiest moments were when they were here all together and happy and working together,” Gloria said. “On his deathbed, the happiest thing he had to say was, ‘I’m so happy you are all here.’ That was just Dick. He treasured these kids, who are now of course adults.”

Dick also put Christ at the head of his family. Among family and close friends, Dick was known for his sincere blessings over every meal, his obituary stated.

In his free time, Dick enjoyed attending horse shows with his family.

“He loved to go with us to the horse shows and be a part of those,” Gloria said.

She said Dick also enjoyed driving his motor home to the locations of those shows around the country, including Oklahoma, Arizona, Illinois and Colorado.

“He was a big traveler,” she said.

Gloria said another of Dick’s hobbies was airplanes, despite having never learned to fly.

“He always enjoyed hearing about new ventures in airplanes and all of the things going on with airplanes,” she said. “We would always have airplane magazines laying around the house.”

With a laugh, Gloria said, “he couldn’t fly, but I think he would have loved to have learned how to fly one.”

Kosciuszko said aside from his community support, Dick was also “one of the best examples of how to run a business and how you integrate yourself into the community.”

Kosciuszko, who called Dick a friend, said “I’m going to miss him. He was one of the first people I met when I started at the Chamber in 2002.”

He said Dick will be recognized posthumously for his service to the community when Thompson-Miller Funeral Home will be awarded the Chamber Business Champion Award for 2017 at the organization’s annual meeting.

The Business Champion Award acknowledges an organization that displays vision, ingenuity, commitment and determination.

“Unfortunately he did not live long enough to be there,” he said.