Carolyn Miller Chairs One From the Heart
She’s all heart. Carolyn Miller not only looks like a Valentine and talks like a Valentine, she acts like a Valentine. She is a Valentine for the American Heart Assn., Greater Los Angeles Affiliate. She will chair the association’s Heart Ball Friday night at the Regent Beverly Wilshire--for the third time. Her gift of time and expertise is expected to help gross $300,000.
Love is what it’s about.
“My mother has had two four-way bypasses and a valve replacement,” Miller said. “My father had a sister and brother who both died of heart conditions at age 59. I care about this.”
She adds: “I basically am an optimist, but sometimes I feel depressed. So I keep several quotes around me, and I try to do something for somebody else, and that makes me feel better.” One of her favorite quotes: “Where much is given, much is expected.”
She’s married to Charles D. Miller, chairman and chief executive officer of Avery and its CEO since 1977. He’s on the boards of Johns Hopkins University and Occidental College, a director of four major corporations and past chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
She’s on the boards of the American Heart Assn., the California Special Olympics and the California Family Study Center. A Mormon, she also co-teaches a Sunday school class for 14-year-olds.
The Millers, who live in Pasadena, privately adopted two children in one year. First, they made arrangements through a lawyer to adopt a baby to be born five months later. When another young mother said she wanted them to be the adoptive parents of her baby, the Millers said yes. Thus, they have red-haired Amanda, 2 1/2, and blond Candice, 2.
Carolyn was at the hospital when each was born and brought both babies home when they were a day old; each slept in the Millers’ bedroom the first six months.
“I wanted to be the one who bonded with them,” she says. “I got up for a whole year during the night. Chuck (he has three daughters by a previous marriage) slept just fine. And I still did the company entertaining.
“Since I couldn’t have children, these children were meant for me.”
Motherhood hasn’t thwarted her avocations. In July, Miller climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, hiking to the summit. She also keeps the computer and fax humming in her home office, handling real estate investments.
“Yes, I’m good at balance sheets,” she says.
She’s a graduate of Brigham Young University, with a major in accounting, and she spent 15 years pursuing a career in international finance, working with Fritz Companies, Carnation, Capital Planning Resources and Van de Kamps. In fact, it was on a Carnation business trip that she met her husband. Several years later their paths crossed again. They were married in 1982.