MILLER FAMILY AT HAZARD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY.
August 27, 2019
My name is Larry Miller and I have been an employee of Hazard since 1973. At the request of Hazard President Jason Mordhorst, I would like to share with you the story of my family and our long connection to Hazard Construction.
First Generation
The Miller family and Hazard Construction connection all started in 1936 when my uncle, Raymond Miller started with R. E. Hazard Contracting Company as a Laborer. When World War II began in 1941, Uncle Ray could not enlist in the military as he had contracted polio when he was young and had physical issues as a result. He stayed on the home front and worked for Hazard throughout World War II.
After the war, Ray’s five brothers came to work at Hazard. They were: Ernie Miller (Father to Steve and Larry Miller,) Harvey Miller, Clarence Miller, Everett Miller and Earl Miller. For a few years, all 6 brothers work at Hazard at the same time. Some came and went, but Ray Miller and Ernie Miller continued and never left Hazard until they both retired.
Second Generation
Steve Miller (son of Ernie Miller) came to Hazard in 1970. Remarkably, both Ray Miller and Ernie Miller still worked at Hazard. My Uncle Ray was a Laborer and my father Ernie Miller was a Foreman. I remember my uncle Ray telling my older brother Steve that his first job was digging ditches in Pacific Beach for a sewer project. The trenches for this pipe job were hand dug!!
I (Larry Miller) came to work at Hazard in 1973, I was a laborer on a pipe crew under Johnny Digman and did work under my father’s watch on a big pipe job laying 88-inch double barrel pipe, I was the pipe mudder. My brother Steve Miller continued working for Hazard from 1970 until his retirement in 2017. Steve started out as a labor, then an operator, superintendent, officer of the company, and owner,47 years at the same company with no breaks, not heard of much today. I do not know when my father and uncle retired, but Steve and I worked with both our uncle and our father at one time, that was a very special time as I look back on it. I worked for Hazard for 22 years before I went to work for Sim J. Harris. I returned to Hazard in 2007. In total, I have been with Hazard for 34 incredible years.
I (Larry Miller) am the last of the Miller family to work at Hazard Construction since 1936. Hazard has been good to the Miller family, all of us made a good living, and had rewarding careers. I am retiring at the end of this year 2019, with 47 years in the trade, with no regrets.
I remember when I was very young, I lived in Clairmont in San Diego, in the type of home that Pappy Hazard wanted all his foreman (like Ernie Miller) and his employees to own. Pappy wanted his employees to live in a neighborhood that Hazard had graded and paved, this was in 1954. I do remember Pappy driving up to my parent’s house in a big black car, late 1950’s. I do not know the extent of the visit as I may have been 3 or 4 years old, but I remember Pappy being bigger than life to me. He was an amazing man.
I will long remember my years at Hazard Construction Company, the people I got to know, and the living we all made to enjoy all the good things. I started at Hazard as a laborer for the first 12 years, then as an operator, a grading and paving foreman, then as a superintendent and finally a general superintendent. I never would have guessed when I started with Hazard at the age of 18 where this career would take me. Now I am 65 and retiring. I am proud that I have been with a company that has provided so much for my father, my uncles, my brother and myself. It feels like it all started yesterday, where did the time go?
Thank You Hazard Construction Company for all the great years, I wish you good bye.
Larry W. Miller
General Superintendent