Orlan
Lloyd Miner
(1907-1966)
Orlan Lloyd Miner was born on Nov.
11, 1907 in Washington, Washington County, PA, the son of Harry
O. and Armena V. (Cain) Miner.
The
photo of Orlan as a boy, seen at right, was taken at Stewart's
Studio in Washington circa 1909.
Orlan married Helen Proctor (1910-1965), daughter of George and Caroline (Reedy) Proctor.
At the time of marriage, he worked at a tin mill in Washington, and she at a local glass factory. It’s said he “fixed up” his widowed mother with her second husband, Benjamin Franklin Marshall, a co-worker at the tin mill.
The Miners had three children – Marilyn Scofield, Helen "Louise" Ditch and Harold Orlan Miner.
While living in Washington, Orlan was a member of the Salvation Army Band, and attended the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. They moved to Akron, OH in the 1940s before relocating again in 1948 to California. They settled in Monrovia, Los Angeles County.
Orlan's uncle William A. Miner may have drawn Orlan and family to California as he had lived there himself for many years.
Orlan was employed for many years as a locksmith at Monrovia High School. While there, he made the acquaintance of teacher Robert Culp, but Orlan did not know they were distantly related on the Miner side. (Robert's grandfather was Lewis Mortimer Culp of Roseville, Perry County, OH.)
Orlan and Helen were very religious, and were members of the Nazarene Church in Monrovia. Orlan once penned a poem, “My Heavenly Dream” in which he wrote:
Where’er you go you too
must tell
To reject Christ means doom in hell.
But then the angel said to me
“Far deeper than the deepest sea
And higher than the heaven above
For you, my friend, in Jesus’ Love.”
Helen died in Monrovia on March 21, 1965.
Heartbroken, Orlan died less than a year later, on Jan. 22, 1966.
They are buried in Monrovia Cemetery.
Daughter Marilyn married Garold Scofield. Gary taught elementary education at Somis, CA (1966-86) and Summit School, Ojai, CA (1986-2001). Marilyn has served as a child specialist in kindergarten through 3rd grades in Ojai. When he left teaching temporarily to join the engineering giant Fluor Corporation, Gary was featured in an article in the Camarillo News. Their grandson-in-law Dustin Turner, a lance corporal with the US Marine Corps, was interviewed on ABC-TV's Nightline on Jan. 24, 2003 in a program entitled "Arming Saddam."
Circa Sept. 1992, Louise Ditch and Harold Miner display a quilt
made by their grandmother, Armena (Cain)
Miner-Marshall.
Click to view a larger version of
the image on our "Online Quilt Museum."
Daughter Louise married Dr. Carl E. Ditch. Carl served as a teacher or principal for 31 years at these California schools: Ballico Elementary; Washington School at Winton; Camarillo in the Pleasant Valley School District; Mound School at Ventura; Ventura Unified School District; Pierpont Elementary; Ventura Middle School; University of Santa Clara; and Ventura Missionary School. He also has been a substitute teacher at Christian schools in Salem, OR.
Copyright © 2000-2001, 2003, 2005 Mark A. Miner