By John C. O'Connell
It's been two weeks now since he's walked around Hendrickson Park lake, picking up trash, feeding the wildlife. It's been two weeks now since George Miller had a heart attack waiting for the bus on Merrick Road just outside the park, and died, his soul now as free as the birds he always loved.
"I can still picture him walking around the park," Florence Tennenbaum said. "I saw him the day he died as he kept me company while my husband walked. ... I can't believe I will never see him again," she said of her friend and coworker. "I will miss him an awful lot."
George Miller, 56, died on Dec. 29 while he waited for a bus to take him to his Springfield Gardens, Queens, home. An ambulance took him to Nassau County Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Family members living elsewhere are reportedly making arrangements for burial.
Many people who knew him say they knew a good man. "Despite his poverty," Jerry Tennenbaum recalls, "George would share his lunch with his friends. He never found fault with anybody. He was never bitter or angry. He had a quick sense of humor and a friendly greeting to all who visited the park."
Ann Cunningham has fond recollections of her friend. "I remember him as a free spirit, an eccentric who loved the outdoors. George was not a famous man, nor was he perfect, but he was good to the animals and fowl around the lake in Valley Stream. He loved and cared about the people who walked around the lake. They became part of his life.
"At the park he was known as The Duck Man," Ann said. "He worked cleaning the debris at the park, and took great interest in the environment. He was an original member of Valley Stream's Friends of Wildlife and was very knowledgeable about the wildlife that inhabit the park. ... I counted myself lucky to be called George's friend."
With his long beard and long gray hair, Ann said some mistook him for Santa Claus. She said he was Santa Claus to many. "George was very generous with his time and money. ... I saw him slip an old lady who collected cans $5. We knew he could use it himself."
Vincent Ang, the village clerk, said he knew Miller for years and will miss him. "He has such a real dedication to taking care of the wildlife in the park."
Dorothy Allocca, a fellow founding member of the Friends of Valley Stream Wildlife, knew George well. "He was president and I am the chairperson of fund raising," she said. "He was a lonely man, and he loved the animals. He was good to them. We did a lot of good things together while he was a member of the Friends of Wildlife, like taking care of the animals in Hendrickson Park, taking them to the vet when they were hurt. ... I'll miss him," she said.
"People often look at other people's outsides and make a judgment," Ann Cunningham said. "George's real friends saw the insides of this gentle, strange man and loved him for whom he was. George is gone, but he won't be forgotten."
