John Leonard Miles

John Leonard Miles

HORNELL-John Leonard Miles, 83, of Massachusetts, died early Friday morning (Jan. 11, 2008) at the Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA. His death resulted from a head trauma following a fall at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell on Monday morning (Jan. 7, 2008).
Born May 26, 1924, he was the younger of two boys born to Sydney and Mildred Miles of Surrey, England. His older brother, Peter Miles of Wiltshire, England, pre-deceased him in 1987.
John joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 and was initially stationed in England, including flight-training with the de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth, before being sent to Capetown, South Africa for navigator’s training with the Avro Anson. He later recalled that at the time the war ended he was disappointed to have not participated in live action, but in mature years he acknowledged how fortunate he had been. He was honorably discharged from the RAF in 1948 in the rank of Warrant Officer.
John attended Bristol University in England from 1948-1954 where he received B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees with honors in Physics. Upon graduation, he emigrated to the United States as part of a group of post-doctoral students doing research at Alfred University. In 1956, he met Barbara M. Weyand of Hornell, then a graduate Art student at Alfred. They married on Aug. 12, 1957 and moved to the Boston area where they lived for most of their 50 year marriage. Mrs. Miles pre-deceased her husband in Hornell on Dec. 23, 2007.
After completing his work at Alfred, John was employed from 1956-1978 by Arthur D. Little, a research and development consulting firm in Cambridge, MA. His project work at ADL included both military and private-industry applications primarily in solid-state cryogenics, materials studies, thin films and coatings, vacuum technology and X-rays. He authored numerous papers for scientific journals and a section in Van Nostrand’s Encyclopedia of Physics. He contributed to the improvement of space-suit insulation for NASA’s Apollo lunar program in the 1960’s, and during his tenure at ADL, his work received eight US patents.
In 1978 he joined New England Research Center in Sudbury, MA where he remained as a staff scientist until his retirement in 1989. In his retirement years, John pursued studies of the design and acoustics of stringed instruments. During this period, he contributed papers to the Journal of the Catgut Acoustical Society and built several instruments.

Throughout his life, John was an avid gardener. Other hobbies included photography and choral singing. Over the years he sang with several church choirs and was a member of the Newton Choral Society and Highland Glee Club. Before a heart attack in 1989, he was active in sports including jogging, tennis, swimming and fencing. He also enjoyed coaching his son’s town soccer team for many seasons.
Mr. Miles is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, J. Geoffrey and Nancy Miles; and two grandchildren, Anna K. Miles and John L. Miles, all of Chatham. He is also survived by his two sisters-in law, Natalie A. Weyand of Hornell and Winifred (Schofield) Miles of England. Other survivors include a nephew Michael Miles, and niece Christine Whitehouse and their respective families, all of England.
Calling hours are from 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Bishop & Johnson Funeral Home, Inc., 285 Main St., Hornell. Friends are invited to meet his family at St. Ignatius Loyola Church where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday. Committal prayers and interment will follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Town of Fremont.
In lieu of flowers, those wishing may contribute in his memory to the John L. Miles Science Scholarship Fund for Hornell graduates attending Alfred University in care of the Hornell High School Alumni Assoc., P.O. Box 135, Hornell, NY 14843. Envelopes for memorial contributions will be available at the funeral home.