Miller leaves behind a legacy at Walnut Hills as he begins life anew

For much of its life, the Monarch butterfly lives as a caterpillar, feasting on milkweed, crawling along while biding its time before making a metamorphosis into one of nature’s objects of beauty, as it emerges from the chrysalis, spreads its beautiful orange and black wings and lifts off into a new world.

In a sense, David A Miller, the former president of Walnut Hills Retirement Community, is going through that same kind of metamorphosis. The long-time face of Walnut Hills served his final day overseeing the campus June 30.

Just don’t ask him how he is enjoying retirement.

“This is not a retirement, it is simply transitioning into a new phase of life for me,” said Miller, who now becomes advocate for the Northeast Ohio Mennonite Mutual Aid, where he will continue in the same vein of service to others that he has developed at Walnut Hills. In his new role, he will be meeting people and advising them on how they can utilize the Mennonite Foundation, and how they can find the perfect charitable organization which matches their passion in life.

“Retirement is not for me at this moment,” said Miller. “I feel like I need to be engaged with people, with life. I really feel that this will challenge and engage me, and lead to something enjoyable. I am looking forward to encouraging others. As for the possibility of retirement, there was no way. In my early 60s now, I feel like I have as much energy as I did in my 50s, but now I have the luxury of all of this experience. This is going to be a whole new life, a whole new group of people, and I think that means it is going to be invigorating.”

For much of his younger years, Miller served as the manager at Wayne Savings Bank in Millersburg. He can still recall the life transition which brought him to Walnut Hills on that cold, wintery January morning in 1982, after Levi Troyer had approached him and convinced him to take on the role of taking over at Walnut Hills.

“I had originally come to Levi about helping him develop the restaurant business at Der Dutchman, but he told me that he needed someone to run the retirement home,” said Miller. “I did some research and saw health care administration as something valuable to our society here. I firmly believed in the track record of the Troyers, and they absolutely empowered me to run the campus like it was my own.”

Twenty-eight years later, Miller has helped to grow Walnut Hills into one of Holmes County’s largest companies.

And while numbers, lunch menus, activities calendars and making sure that each of the rooms on campus had all of the best amenities were on the daily schedule, it was the people of Walnut Hills which drew Miller to the job, and it was the people he will miss the most about his latest transition.

“I have been blessed to work with some of the best people around,” said Miller. “That was the case 28 years ago, and it is the same today. We’ve got an incredible staff here, a staff that every day proves that it cares about the people here. I have also been blessed to get to know a lot of wonderful people who have lived here as residents. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to say goodbye to this place, and that is all because of the incredible people I have grown to love and respect.”

Taking over for Miller is Jeremy Kauffman, the very man Miller helped handpick and groom for the role eight years ago.

Miller said that when they began working on an exit strategy for the day he left, after screening Kauffman, all agreed that he would be a perfect fit. Miller said that it was his prayer that Kauffman would grow into the next leader of Walnut Hills, and over the years he has proven the hierarchy quite wise in their choice, as he has blossomed into someone Miller feels very comfortable handing the reins to.

“God brought Jeremy into our lives at the exact right time,” said Miller. “He had been a part of Greencroft (which recently purchased Walnut Hills) for 10 years. He conveys such a deep passion for older people, and works together so well with the leadership team. He came into this a lot more experienced than I did when I got started, and he will do a wonderful job.”

As Miller made the rounds during his final days at Walnut Hills, he made the same stops, and eased into the same comfortable conversations he had with residents thousands of times before. Only now, he was saying his goodbyes, something which wasn’t easy, seeing as how he had been making these rounds for 28 years.

“Not being around here is going to be a huge loss for me,” said Miller. “There is a sense of loneliness knowing that I’ll be leaving something I have loved doing for almost three decades. As I went around the campus, I kept telling the residents that they have taught me so much over the years about how to grow old gracefully. They have been great examples, and in that sense, I feel that my time here has prepared me a great deal for my golden years.”

Miller said that the past 28 years have shown him how to age, and to grow older in a good way. While many people fear growing old, after his experience, Miller said that he now looks forward to getting to that age because he has gleaned so many positives from his experience at Walnut Hills.

“This has eliminated my fear of getting old,” said Miller, who added with a laugh, “Now I just pray that I get there.”

Miller said he has seen many important aspects of growing old, having watching countless seniors thrive and survive in the campus setting, and that he saw both the successful and unsuccessful transitions into the twilight years of life. He noted that those who were willing to embrace change, who looked out to serve others instead of in at their own hearts were two key components of those who remained the happiest on campus. “Of course, good health and some semblance of financial freedom also help,” said Miller.

Life presents many challenges, decisions and changes. For David A Miller, the metamorphosis taking place now leaves him with many memories, lasting relationships, and a pathway into a new life in which he can spread his wings and fly.