MILLER, James Keith, Rev (1870-1941)
Assembly memorial minute, 1942
James Keith Miller was born in Glasgow on June 24th, 1870, and came to Sydney when quite young. He belonged to a family devoted to the Presbyterian Church, and his elder brother, the Rev. A. Miller, was for some years minister of Chatswood.
James Keith Miller spent some years in the service of the bank, before he was drawn to offer himself to the service of the holy ministry. He passed through the Theological Hall, Sydney, and was ordained, and inducted into his first charge, Kogarah, in 1903. He remained there four years, and was next inducted in the charge of Inverell in 1907. Toward the end of his ministry there he became a chaplain in the First A.I.F., and was the first chaplain from New South Wales to go abroad. He got as far as Gallipoli, but an attack of typhoid fever compelled him to return home.
His next charge was Paddington, where he was inducted in 1916; then he went to Wellington in 1920, and to Goulburn in 1923. During his ministry there the present Presbyterian Church in Goulburn was built. Failing health, however, rendered necessary a change from so large a charge, and he came to Victoria.
His first and only charge in Victoria was Korumburra, where he was inducted on February 22nd, 1927. He fought a brave battle against increasing infirmity, and finally resigned from Korumburra on September 22nd, 1940, and became a minister emeritus. He passed away in St. Andrew’s Hospital on December 23rd, 1941.
Mr. Miller was by nature a retiring man, and his comparatively brief ministry in Victoria did not permit of his becoming well known among us. He rarely spoke in the Assembly, but was a man of a very brotherly disposition who loved to meet his fellow-ministers in Presbytery gatherings. He was an assiduous and loved pastor as long as his health permitted.
He leaves a widow, three daughters, and two sons. Mrs. Miller was formerly Miss Blanche Cameron, and belonged to one of the oldest Presbyterian families in the Coleraine district. His son Alan is in the Royal Australian Air Force, and Gordon also is with the Forces. To his widow and children the Assembly tenders its sincere sympathy.
Gender
- Male