Libby's Miner celebrates 100th birthday with family, friends

About one-quarter of one percent of the world’s residents live to be 100.

But how many can claim to have led the rich life that Libby’s Richard Miner has experienced?

Miner celebrated his 100th birthday Dec. 19 at Libby Baptist Church surrounded by family, friends and admirers.

He attributes his longevity to his Christian faith and God.

“About two or three years ago, I was tired of living and I asked God to take me home. But he didn’t,” Miner said as one well wisher after another offered their congratulations to the centenarian. 

If Miner was meant to share the story of his life, God’s decision was spot on.

Miner still lives in the home he has since moving to Libby in 1971. 

He lives two doors down from his church and Associate Pastor Justin Robinson and his family keep an eye out for the centenarian. Good friend Jerry Bennett plows his driveway when the snow piles up, too.

When he and family members were discussing plans for his birthday celebration, he was very definitive.

“He said, ‘I want it on my birthday at the church, from noon to 2 p.m. I want chocolate cake and lemon meringue pie served,’” his daughter Lydia recalled during the birthday party.

“We tried to begin planning the party in February when he was recovering from surgery and he wasn’t thrilled about it,” Lydia said. “In July I returned for my 45th reunion, we talked about it again and he was very definite about what he wanted.”

Miner, a native of Tacoma,Washington, has lived a life of service, hard work, dedication and adventure.

Miner’s son Michael helped share his dad’s story with a chronological history on large sheets of paper on the walls of the sanctuary.

The entry for 1935 read: “A car hit Dad and he had a concussion just before his 11th birthday. He had to remain in quiet rooms for a number of weeks, both in the hospital and when he returned home. When he finally got to be active and move around in February of 1936 he had to make up two months of schoolwork he had missed!”

1936 was a pivotal year in Miner’s life. He and his siblings were active in the Little Brown Church in Tacoma. During a Friday night revival, Miner gave his life to Jesus.

“I have never been sorry for a moment in my life. That is not to say I have always lived the life I should, but God has always been faithful to me,” Miner said. 

Miner also discovered the wonder of the mountains that year when his brothers began taking him to the Olympic National Forest.

It was Dec. 7, 1941 when Miner and his family left services at the Little Brown Church and learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor, beginning World War II. He recalled U.S. forces stationed at Fort Lewis being dispersed into the woods near his home and newspaper route.

“They were so hungry for news of what was going on, that often he would stop and let them look at a paper,” son Michael wrote in the chronological history.

Miner was eventually drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps (predecessor to Air Force) and trained to be a pilot. His training for becoming a bombardier and navigator included stops in Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. After earning his aviation wings and commission as a Second Lt., Miner was stationed at Fort Worth, Texas where he became a B-24 Liberator Air Commander.

It was July 16, 1945, when he and some pilot buddies were on leave and traveling through northern New Mexico when they saw an extremely bright light south of them. Later, they learned it was the first detonation of an atomic bomb at the Alamogordo Bombing Range.

Less than a month later, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

World War II soon ended and Miner was released from active duty Sept. 21, 1945.

Miner graduated from a business college in Tacoma, went to work and served his country in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He flew a B-36 bomber while on reserve duty at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington.

In 1950, Miner went to work with St. Regis Paper Company in 

Tacoma. The company eventually transferred him to Libby and he retired from the firm in 1985.

Meanwhile, he met Hilda Kyostia in the mid-1950s and they married June 11, 1960. The couple was able to travel to her homeland in Finland in 1970.

After Miner retired from St. Regis, he and Hilda volunteered to become foreign missionaries and they were very active in the role that spanned 20 years, 1986 to 2006.

Most of their missionary work was done in West Africa, including the countries of Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Northern Ghana.

While their overseas travels ended, the couple drove to Fairbanks, Alaska in 2007, covering 5,500 miles in six weeks.

In 2008, they both endured health issues. Hilda had open heart surgery and Richard suffered a heart attack.

But those health matters didn’t prevent one more trip to Alaska where they visited Lydia and her partner David Steward in 2009.

Following a fall and broken hip in 2011, Hilda went to live in the Libby Care Center before her passing in 2013. The couple was married for 53 years.

The following year, Miner embarked on a month-long journey of more than 5,300 miles. He traveled through Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Nebraska.

Miner saw several people he knew from his time as a missionary as well as son Mike and daughter-in-law Belinda.

These days, Miner stays busy reading historical books and playing computer games.

“I belonged to the Book of the Month Club and I am getting caught up with the tons of books I haven’t yet read,” he said.