Michael J. Miles

Michael Junior Miles, father of eight, and loving husband to Sheri Miles, left his earthly home and returned to our Creator on August 9th, 2022.

Mike was born in 1952, in Kingston, Jamaica, to Norma Young Chin, where he thrived for nine years under the care of his grandparents and a bevy of aunts and uncles. He moved to California with his mother in 1961, and eventually became big brother to eight siblings. The transition from barefoot island boy to American school child was difficult for him and his early teen years were filled with turmoil and rebellion. However, in his seventeenth year, Mike was led to the LORD, and started his new walk as a zealous Christian, pursuing truth and understanding-a desire he maintained his entire life. Over the next decade, Mike would embark on two additional lifelong passions, his forty-two year craft of shoe repair and his calling as a husband and father. He met his wife, Sheri, at a small home fellowship in 1978, and they married the following New Year's Day. Their family soon expanded and they were abundantly blessed in their forty-three years of marriage with two sons, six daughters, eight grandchildren, with two more on the way.

Mike was well known for his tireless work ethic, obsession with books of knowledge, and his penchant for loud, animated discussions of myriad topics-especially religion, philosphy, and science. Fond of the biographies of the Ancients, he could always be counted on to have a story about Solomon or Socrates at the ready. Never one for material gifts, Mike always asked, instead, for questions-on any subject-and the opportunity to expound upon them. Mike was generous with his time, skills, and what wealth he had, but he was most generous with his heart; he took people under his wing, he loved them, and he was well loved in return.

He is survived by his wife, Sheri Miles; his children, Ekklesia (Stephen) Fazio, Jeddiah Miles, Josiah (Robin) Miles, Anastasia (Ian) Irvine, Debbrith (Roy) Feng, Esther (Carlo) Vasquez, Elizabeth (Sean) Duran, and Marriam Miles; his grandchildren, Rocco, Piper, Keeley, Nason, Luca, Dylan, Nolen, Esben, Owen, and William; his mother, Norma Flanagan; his siblings, Bobby Payne, Lee Miles, Tina Prescott, Norman Miles, and Bill Covert; and many nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, and cousins.