“The proclamation is something that this Commission bestows upon an individual. It’s the highest honor we give upon a citizen in our city, and there’s no one more fitting to receive that than David M. Miller.” -Mayor Rick Lott
Residents of Plant City would be hard pressed to find a major town improvement from the last three decades that David M. Miller didn’t have a hand in.
Miller, 87, died Sunday, Feb. 5 at, Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, but his impact on Plant City is perennial.
For his lifetime of service to the town he called home, Miller was posthumously awarded a proclamation accepted by his wife, Emma, during a City Commission meeting Monday, Feb. 27.
“He was involved in everything, you know,” Mayor Rick Lott said. “The proclamation is something that this Commission bestows upon an individual. It’s the highest honor we give upon a citizen in our city, and there’s no one more fitting to receive that than David M. Miller.”
The proclamation acknowledged Miller’s many civic activities and honored him as a “timeless example of the highest standards of citizenship.”
“I just want to thank the community members for this award,” Emma Miller said. “David was a very special person and when he came to Florida — CF (Industries) transferred him here — and he discovered Plant City, he knew this was where he wanted to live. He became involved. Not a lot of people knew what he actually did, but he loved this city and he loved the people.”
Miller worked for CF industries for 31 years. The company took him to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Tampa and Bartow. He moved to Plant City in 1982, and served as manager of the company’s Bartow plant until he retired in 1998.
Since moving to Plant City, Miller maintained a large presence in the community’s civic happenings. He served as a deacon and ordained elder at First Presbyterian Church of Plant City and was a member of the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce since 1982. He was also a member of the Plant City Rotary Club, Plant City Elks, Greater Tampa YMCA, the South Florida Baptist Foundation, Hillsborough Community College, the Florida Strawberry Festival and served on the Friends of the Library board for Bruton Memorial Library. In 2012, he received the Plant City Family YMCA’s Strong Leader award.
When the chamber needed a new building in the early 90s, he served on the board to relocate the the building to its current facility, helping raise about $600,000 for the project.
“David became a very close friend of mine,” City Commissioner Mike Sparkman said. “He almost became the godfather of city elections. He was so active. The two or three times I had opposition, he was always my campaign manager.”
For more than 25 years, Sparkman and Miller remained close in both civic activities, first working together on the chamber’s relocation, and in their personal lives. While Sparkman would go on to serve multiple terms as mayor and city commissioner, Miller opted to remain backstage. He never wanted to be in the spotlight, but wanted to be as supportive of the city’s development as he could.
“He didn’t take personal credit for all the things he accomplished,” Lott said. “It’s a testament to the legacy he left in our city.”
Of all of his accomplishments, Sparkman said, Miller was most proud of the herculean effort to build the Plant City Family YMCA’s current building, located at 1507 YMCA Place.
“He worked so hard to make it become a reality,” Sparkman said. “He took a lot of pride in helping make that happen.”
While Sparkman was mayor in 2002, Miller was instrumental in helping raise $1.5 million from pledges in the city to build the new Y. Sparkman was able to help get another $1.5 million from the city, and the Tampa Metropolitan YMCA contributed $2 million. Without Miller, Sparkman said, it’s hard to imagine the YMCA project being accomplished.
Aside from his contribution to the development of Plant City, Miller was also known as a devout friend, a “go-to guy.” He was just as handy in the shed as in the kitchen. Originally form Mississippi, he was a proud cajun, his gumbo recipe beloved at the Plant City Rotary Club.
Of the nearly three decades worth of memories, Sparkman said some of the trips the two took with their wives were the most memorable. On one trip to Europe, Sparkman said he got an upset stomach while in Paris.
The couples then went to Germany, where Sparkman thought some potato soup would make him feel better. It did not. When Sparkman got sick in a flower bed outside the restaurant, Miller turned to him and said, “Sparky, if I’d have been you, I would’ve just rented that soup. I don’t think I would’ve bought it.”
Contact Daniel Figueroa IV at dfigueroa@plantcityobserver.com.