When Robert W. Miles received an honorable discharge from the Army in 1946, he took advantage of the GI Bill and chose the road to success through education. He enrolled at his hometown alma mater, Lexington's University of Kentucky, and received an undergraduate and master's degree in English. After graduation, he moved to New York to study at the Juilliard School of Music. He was worried that his parents wouldn't approve of the direction he was taking and remembers, "I wrote a letter to my parents telling them that I loved the liberal and stimulating atmosphere at Julliard and that I hoped that they weren't disappointed in my decision. At the time, I had aspirations of being a teacher, writing philosophical essays and traveling the globe, so I would have needed four lifetimes to do everything that I wanted to do."

His parents aren't around now, but they certainly would agree that Miles made the right decision. This past October, his memoir, Bootleg Music and Other Stories, was published by Sunstone Press.

In the book, the 91-year-old describes his life in New York, and the trials and tribulations of being an aspiring songwriter while eking out a living with a series of menial jobs.

He cranked out copies of music on a mimeograph machine for Radio Free Europe, worked as a librarian's assistant selecting music to be played behind the Iron Curtain, and copied music for arrangers of Broadway musicals.

The title of his book has to do with the fact that in order to teach music, he had to sneak around Juilliard to find empty recital rooms, since he was no longer enrolled at the school.

During his struggles, he had the good fortune to meet the love of his life, Jeanne, the daughter of Morrey Yashvin, who owned Capitol Pharmacy on the Santa Fe Plaza for many years.
During their 47 years of marriage, they
frequently visited Santa Fe and retired here
in 2001.

"We had season tickets to the Metropolitan Opera, so when we moved to Santa Fe, we attended every performance of the Santa Fe Opera during the summer. We also frequented performances at the Lensic and the Santa Fe Rep. Santa Fe has a wealth of professional musicians, both local and from New York and Los Angeles," he said.

Jeanne Miles died on May 1. Miles lives at the El Castillo LifeCare Retirement Community and remains close to his stepson, Kenneth Reid, who also lives in Santa Fe.

One of three children, Miles was born in 1920 in Roanoke, Va., to Robert W. Miles Sr. and Dorothy Moomaw. His brother Edward, who lives in Cincinnati, is his only surviving sibling. During Miles' childhood, his father worked as a Presbyterian minister, requiring the family to move several times throughout the Midwest and the South.

According to Miles, his prized possession as a child was his violin. He said, "My family didn't want a piano in the house, so I learned to play the violin instead."

In 1948, Miles won first prize in a nationwide music contest with his country-western song, "Twenty-One Miles From Home." In 1950, he won the competition for a second time with the song "Another Day with You." That would be only the second of many accolades he would receive for his songs and musical arrangements. His songs "Tell Me Softly," "If He Knew Me," and "The Land of Once Upon a Time" are listed in the book, Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000.

Miles continues to write musical arrangements. His work will be performed in a jazz concert at at 2 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Santa Fe Center for Spiritual Living.

He's also part of a weekly writer's group at El Castillo, which led to the publication of his memoir. In addition, he sings with the choir on Sundays at the Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 2009, he composed the music for Little Lord Fauntleroy, which was produced in Natchez, Miss., and for Shut My Mouth, a musical that will be produced in Natchez in 2013.

Each day, Miles spends several hours working on musical compositions and creative writing. Because of his advanced age Miles doesn't get around much; instead, he lets his music do the traveling.

Ana Pacheco's weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Sunday she can be reached
at 505-474-2800.