Life Story: Milton Milan
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When someone passes away, we often learn more about their lives as family and friends share stories.
When Milton Milan died this month, people who knew him found out he had reasons to be bitter -- but chose to be a better person.
"I think that's the legacy he leaves. He was very giving. Just a gracious man," Milton's daughter, Stacy Pieper, said.
Milan, from Mahtomedi, was known by the nickname "Mailman" because he worked for the United States Postal Service for more than 30 years.
He liked to stay busy, even on Sundays. He started the usher ministry 24 years ago at Progressive Baptist Church in St. Paul, where Rev. Earl Miller is the pastor.
"He was very serious about ushering, and very serious about order," Rev. Earl said.
And he was serious about making the lives of others a little bit easier. After retiring, he worked part-time in the bakery of a grocery store.
"He realized that he could take some of the day olds or some of the expiring items to help other people, like homeless people at shelters," Stacy said.
She says Milton volunteered at schools, helping kids write letters to soldiers. He served on the community education advisory council of St. Paul Public Schools.
He also volunteered at the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul and spent time greeting patients at the Veterans Administration Hospital as they arrived for appointments.
"He always, in things that he did, did something for others in some way. I think that was his time to be with God," Stacy said.
Milton joined the U.S. Army in 1948, and was sent to serve in the Korean War a couple of years later.
"He told me, kind of briefly, he was in Korea and in a Jeep, and the Jeep blew up and three of the men in the Jeep with him died and he was the only survivor," Stacy said. "So that part I knew, but the rest I didn't."
Milton shared his war stories with his church pastor.
"He was missing in action," Rev. Earl said.
Milton told his pastor that he was severely injured and unable to communicate. He was hospitalized back in the U.S. His family and friends in Kansas City did not know, having every reason to believe he was dead.
But his mother refused to believe she had lost her son.
"She didn't give up, she kept praying," Rev. Earl said. "She said, 'My son is alive,' and she went to look for him."
She searched several VA hospitals in hopes of finding her son.
"He said he heard her voice, and he called her name, and she came in," Rev. Earl said. "She had been looking for him. They found one another."
He says Milton moved on with life with renewed faith and a mission to serve, even though he dealt with an on-going struggle to get his full disability benefits.
"He was not bitter," Rev. Earl said. "He was very unique."
Milton Milan was buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery earlier this month. He was 85 years old.
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