John H. Milliken

John Harley Milliken was born on September 26, 1940 in Topeka, Ks to Harold and Lavonne Milliken. He was the middle child of two sisters Barbara Milliken (survives) and Patricia Mize. He married the love of his life June Fay Milliken (Murray) on December 10, 1976.

He is survived by his wife June and four children Laurie (Steve) Sereg, Scott (Lisa) Milliken, Betty (Tony) Dekat, and Angela Milliken. He also has 6 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren and his beloved dog Scarlett Rose who will miss him so much.

Because of his knack for conversation and his gifted way to make friends with everyone he met, he worked many years as a salesman. Many times traveling all over the Midwest and South. His personality was a great benefit for his sales career. After retirement he helped his wife in her business at Pampered Pets. John and June are members of the 2nd Presbyterian Church. His faith was very important to him. John enjoyed many hobbies such as fishing, traveling, and camping. He was also a great cook and prepared many types of meals from cooking outdoors, boiling lobsters, or making one of his specialties a grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. He loved attending parties, talking with everyone, telling funny stories, and reminiscing about his life adventures. You could often find him dancing to 50s music and swinging his loved ones around the dance floor or just bolting the song out vocally as he jitterbugged on Saturday mornings in the kitchen cooking breakfast. He also had a unique way of singing "Happy Birthday" to you and he would make sure he was the loudest singing voice in the room, just to show you how special he thought you were. He worked very hard on beautiful home projects and gardens with his wife. Making each home renovated and special. He loved telling people about his children and grandchildren and how proud he was of them. He always loved his pets and spoke about them frequently throughout his life. He had a love for all sports. He enjoyed watching track, football, horse racing, boxing, golf, and basketball games including and especially all sports of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. He played football, track, and basketball in high school winning records and medals at Seaman High school in many achievements. He loved his high school and was a former President of the Senior Alumni Association for a many years. He met many of his close life long friends at Seaman. He went on and played football for Baker University and earned a Bachelor's in Business and was a member of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity where he was commonly referred to as "Moose," which is fitting because John was so strong, confident, and he never gave up. The Moose nickname carried on throughout his life. He joined the Air Force reserves and during that time had the benefit of attending a Super Bowl game to watch the Chiefs play. He was always cheering for Chiefs wins on Sunday afternoons. He accomplished his dream of participating in the Sunflower Senior Olympics in 2014 at the age of 74 in track and field performances and won many medals in his age group. He ran the 400 meter event and the crowd stood and cheered him on when he reached the finish line, John smiled that whole day. But the greatest sport John played was in life, which he won First place and he finished that race with his loving family by his side on January 26, 2021.

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 3, 2020 at the Dove Southwest Chapel, 3700 SW Wanamaker Road. Inurnment in the Rochester Cemetery will follow the service. The family will receive friends at the funeral home one hour prior to the service.

Donations can be made in his memory to the Seaman Alumni Association.

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