Writing history

Ruth Miller, of Stanwood, remembers fondly her time as a reporter. As a young girl, Ruth G. Miller, of Stanwood, wanted to be a newspaper reporter.

Miller, now 93, has long met her childhood goal.

Fresh from the University of Washington, Miller was hired as the society editor for the Yakima Daily Republic in 1938. In her graduating class of 21 prospective journalists, Miller was one of only six women.

With the U.S. entry into World War II, Miller moved from the society pages to covering the city beat.

As men went to war, jobs previously predominately held by men, such as newspaper reporters, became open to women, she said.

In those days, reporters were sent out to cover stories without necessarily having background information, Miller said. The job meant a lot of legwork finding sources for various articles.

"I wanted the excitement of getting out on a beat," she said.

While reporting for the Yakima Daily Republic, Miller said she got the first inklings of what would become her career-making investigative report on the U.S. Government land grab in Hanford.

To make way for the Manhattan Project, the War Department took over about 500,000 acres of land using the War Powers Act.

The act allowed the government to take any land needed for the war effort if they provided compensation, Miller said. However, the Federal Land Bank advisors appraising the land were rating it at much less than its actual value.

About 300,000 acres of that land represented 2,077 tracts where 3,000 people lived. Residents were ordered to leave during harvest, and had to leave behind their crops, she said.

While working for the Republic, she met Marc Miller, whom she would later marry. Marc had lost land to the War Department, and had been hired to assist appraisers from the Department of Justice who were looking into the situation.

"He piqued my curiosity on getting this story," she said.

Miller was hired by the Seattle Times in 1943 as one of only two female reporters.

The Seattle Times sent Miller back to Yakima, where she spent days diving into the story, talking with residents who had lost their homes and looking up court records.

The background information she knew from Marc helped her piece the story together, she said.

The Hanford Land grab was almost as bad as what happened to the Japanese during that time, Miller said.

"People were ordered out immediately," she said.

Eventually, Miller had collected so much material that the story was divided into four sections that ran on consecutive days. The first article was printed on the front page of the Sun., Dec. 17, 1944 edition, she said.

It remains the story that she is most proud of even now.

"No one ever contradicted anything that I said," Miller said.

After the first story ran, Miller said she received a call from a U.S. Army officer who wanted the story pulled. However, Miller told him she had the information, and was sticking with it.

It was only later that Miller found out she had been put on the FBI's watch list.

After Miller's series ran in the Times, the cases went to court. In some instances, the jury decided on values 600 percent higher than what appraisers had originally offered the landowners, she said.

Even though people wondered about what was going on at Hanford, the government was able to keep the Manhattan Project under wraps until it was ready, and dropped the atom bombs, Miller said.

Working for the Seattle Times was exciting, Miller admits. She was never certain what situation she might have to cover. There, she covered the city, county and courthouse.

Miller retired from newspaper reporting in 1946, a year after marrying Marc, to throw her energy into being a homemaker and mother of their four sons . Marc, Bruce, Ric and Gregg.

After she left the paper, Miller remembers then copy editor Mel Sayre saying, "Ruth, you were a good newspaperman."

Miller continued to write as a freelancer, and writes when requested up to this day.

Although she loved writing, Miller said there were other things she loved better. She earned a degree in Japanese flower arrangement, and spent 15 years as a Master Gardener.

Miller used to live on Camano Island, and was an active volunteer and board member at Josephine Care Facility. She said she doesn't regret her decision to move into an apartment in the assisted living portion of Josephine.

Miller enjoys reading. She belongs to a support group at Josephine, and is an active member at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Stanwood.

Her son, Bruce, lives on Camano Island with his family, including grandchildren Madaline, 22, and Tony, 18. Ric is working for Boeing in Taiwan, and her eldest, Marc, is retired and living in Long Beach.

Her grandson, Tony, 18, wants to be a music reporter. Miller said her advice is to "be well versed in all fields."

That was something she felt the University of Washington gave her, as she started out on her journalism career.

Staff Reporter Kristi Pihl: 629-8066 ext. 125 or kpihl@scnews.com.