JAMES "JIM" MILES, 1921-2003: Plainspoken leader Jim Miles was well-known for the actions behind his words as city commissioner. He dies at 82 after undergoing surgery.
By SHANNON TAN
Published October 17, 2003
LARGO - James S. "Jim" Miles wasn't afraid to tell it like it was.
So when the controversy over the Renaissance Festival turned bleak for Mayor Bob Jackson, he turned to Mr. Miles, whom he had defeated in 2000, for some candid advice.
"He said, "Bob, you're not a leader. You've got to decide to be a leader,' " Jackson recalled. "It was a hard thing to take, but I needed that."
That kind of straight talk was typical of Mr. Miles, a dedicated city leader and retired Army colonel who died Thursday (Oct. 16, 2003) at Largo Medical Center after undergoing heart surgery. He was 82.
He had grown weaker in the past few months, said his wife, Carol Miles, and was hospitalized last week after feeling dizzy. Doctors found that his aortic valve was closing from calcification, and they performed three bypasses and replaced the valve on Tuesday. But his heart failed to restart.
"He was the city, as far as I'm concerned," said former Commissioner Joe Mangus. "He probably did more for the city than any one person I can think of."
Born in Bluefield, W. Va., Mr. Miles served in the Army for more than 33 years, earning 19 medals and ribbons including the Combat Infantry Badge with two stars for serving in combat in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Mr. Miles earned a Purple Heart in 1967 after being hit by shrapnel in an ambush in Vietnam.
About two years ago, Mr. Miles began writing a memoir of his time in the military for his six children. Just before he died, he was starting on a draft of his experiences in Largo.
It was the first place he could call home.
Mr. Miles looked all over the country before deciding to settle down in Largo in 1975.
He bought a boat rental business and sold it a year later. In 1982, he ran for city commissioner.
"Vote for the four M's" was the motto for George McGough, Mr. Miles, Sandra Mortham and Mangus.
Mr. Miles promoted the city with "I Love Largo" bumper stickers and license plates. He treated the city's money as carefully as if it were his own.
Carrying around a notebook in his car, Mr. Miles would jot down signs that violated city code and make sure they were fixed. He made the city clerks uneasy by pointing out grammatical and mathematical mistakes in their memos. If a department wanted a new truck, they had better come up with a good reason for Mr. Miles.
"We're building a Cadillac when a Chevrolet would do" was his favorite saying, Jackson recalled.
"He'd make sure if we're spending a dollar, we're getting a dollar in return," Jackson said.
Even after suffering a heart attack in 1985, Mr. Miles inspected boxes of the then-Largo Chamber of Commerce's baskets for the poor.
"He was one of those 150 percent-type people," said Mortham, a former city commissioner and Florida Secretary of State. "If he had a flaw, it might have been he was a tad overzealous."
Mr. Miles turned the part-time commissioner's job into a full-time one.
Once at 2 a.m., Carol Miles recalls, the phone rang.
An angry resident wanted Mr. Miles to know that a city truck was in front of his house creating a racket. Still wearing his pajamas, Mr. Miles drove to the resident's house with his wife.
The sewer pipes were backed up, and the truck was pumping the sewage out.
After satisfying the resident, Mr. Miles was walking back to his car when a hose gave way and a stream of sewage poured onto his pajamas.
Mr. Miles earned the nickname "Mr. Ulmerton Road" for his persistent but futile efforts in getting the city to widen the street.
"He's up there bending God's ear about it," joked his daughter, Linda Miles.
In 1994, Miles' first wife, Beryl, died. He remarried in 1996 to Carol Miles.
His children recall their father as being the first person in their neighborhood to have an air-conditioned car. The car is tied to their memories of their father's love of cigars.
"Us little ones would be in the backseat and the windows could not roll down," said his son, David Miles. "There was this blue haze in the car and all of us were down on the floorboard gagging."
Mr. Miles chain-smoked so much his daughter, Linda Miles, would build nightstands and walls out of his wooden El Producto cigar boxes.
Yet, after his doctor ordered him to quit, Mr. Miles summoned his characteristic self-discipline, gathered up his cigars and threw them in the trash.
"If he decided to do something, he's going to do it," said Carol Miles.
Call him strong-willed or just plain old stubborn.
The doormat outside his house warns visitors that "one nice person and one old grouch live here."
Mr. Miles even wrote the copy for a Chamber of Commerce billboard in Pasco County that read: "We Are Growing/ LARGO/ HOME OF 70,143 NICE PEOPLE AND 15 OLD GRUMPS."
One of the grumps, Mr. Miles acknowledged in 1990, was himself.
After Mr. Miles was defeated by Jackson in the 2000 mayoral election, he went on cruises with his wife and rode Amtrak trains across the country.
At his home in southwest Largo, Mr. Miles filled the bird feeder and would watch as squirrels and birds flocked to his back yard. He dubbed two squirrels "Pedro" and "Juan" after they ate hot peppers he offered them. And he didn't want the pool chlorinated for fear the bullfrog who made his home in the swimming pool would leave.
He watched commission meetings on television and expressed dismay that the city's tax rate was recently raised.
And he remained determined and focused on details to the end. He played a key role in developing the Military Court of Honor in Largo Central Park, but whatever pride he felt from that achievement was tempered by something else: The place wasn't being kept up to his standards.
"He just complained when he saw things falling into disrepair," his wife said.
Survivors include his wife of seven years, Carolyn C.; two sons, David R., Tallahassee, and Donald J., Herndon, Va.; a stepson, Mark A. Carter, Orlando; four daughters, Joyce A. Blakeslee and Diane E. Miles, both of Pinellas Park, Linda S. Miles, Seminole, and Kathleen E. Coston, Phoenix; a stepdaughter, Kim Morrison, Titusville; a brother, Robert J., and a sister, Janita Reichel, both of Erie, Pa.; 19 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
Donations may be made to the Greater Largo Library Foundation Building Fund.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Moss-Feaster Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, Serenity Gardens Chapel, 13401 Indian Rocks Road, Largo. Funeral services will be 4 p.m. Monday at Indian Rocks First Baptist Church, 12685 Ulmerton Road, Largo. A full military service and burial at Arlington National Cemetery will be at a later date.
Even without his Army uniform, Jim Miles never lost his military air. And even outside elected office, he never stopped serving the city of Largo. This is what people were saying about him Thursday.
"Jim could be friendly and he could be angry, according to what happened. He was very military. I used to kid him and tell him that I bet he lined his kids up first thing in the morning." - CAROLDINE ANDREWS, 80, of Largo, whose husband, Warren, is a former mayor of Largo.
"When we had fundraising events, he was right in the middle of everything. He just fit right in and got to work. He has done a lot for Largo." - MARY HEASTON, 78, former executive vice president of the Greater Largo Chamber of Commerce.
"I loved the man. He had a sense a humor that would bring levity to a meeting when people were otherwise too full of themselves." - BARBARA SHEEN TODD, Pinellas County commissioner, who said Miles saw the need to develop the county's east-west corridors while most planners were focused on north-south routes.
"He was very innovative. And if he was going to do something, he wanted to finish it. He never let a meeting pass that he wouldn't bring up Ulmerton Road. It's too bad he didn't get to see that finished." - BRIAN SMITH, Metropolitan Planning Organization planning director, who gave Miles credit for leading the push for a countywide rail system and developing a transportation plan for disadvantaged county residents.
"He's one of the most dedicated people I ever met. He was so focused on what was best for the citizens of Largo. He never waivered from that." - BARBARA THORNTON, Largo High School principal
Jim Miles biography
Born in Bluefield, W. Va., Feb. 10, 1921.
Entered the U.S. Army in April 1942 as a second lieutenant in the Organized Reserve Corps. Served in the infantry, cavalry and armored divisions in the South Pacific in World War II, Korea, Germany during the Cold War, and Vietnam. Decorations include a Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
