Documented History
Louis Aloysius Jr. was born on 13 May 1932 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky. According to his birth record on ancestry, his mom was Mary Gunterman. According to the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, Louis’ parents were Mary K Gunterman and Louis A Miller.
LAMJ 1940 US Census – Orphanage
I believe Louis may have lived in Saint Thomas Orphanage in Rural, Oldham, Kentucky in 1940 according to the census record for that year. He was 7 years old at the time and in 2nd grade. Also listed with him is Joseph Miller, 11 years old, and in 3rd grade. The census record lists them as inmates. That being said, I cannot confirm that this is the same Louis Miller. There is no personally identifiable information to ascertain for sure that this is the same person.
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I read the book shown above, The Unbreakable Child, which was written by one of the orphans that lived at the St. Thomas Orphanage. It was a hard read emotionally as those children were abused regularly in that orphanage. One can only hope that I don’t have ancestors that had the misfortune of living there. But if Luis was an orphan there, it might help explain some of what I know about him.
LAMJ 1940 US Census – Louis
I know that he left the family when the 10th child was born. I know that he continued to send money to the family to help ensure the children were taken care of. I think perhaps if he did come from an orphanage, maybe having so many children was causing internal emotional issues that he couldn’t handle.
LAMJ 1940 US Census – Supplementary Questions
In his letters, he was very apologetic about things. He seemed to be real hard on himself and kind of down. I would expect this type of personality to come from an orphanage. But I need to re-iterate here that I have no evidence yet that he was in the St. Thomas Orphanage. The 1940 Census record does not include enough information to know, without a doubt, that it was indeed the same Louis Miller.
According to the U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010, Louis enlisted into the Air Force on 25 September 1950. He was released from the Air Force on 4 May 1952. His birth date is listed as 13 May 1931. His death date is listed as 3 January 1996.
Marriage
Louis married Yolande A Biver on June 14, 1952 according to the Marion County, Indiana Marriage Index. He was 20 years old. Yolande was 19 years old.
LAMJ US City Directories
Louis lived at 6136 Nimitz, Indianapolis, Indiana with Yolande according to U.S. City Directories 1821 – 1989. He was 24 years old. She was 23. He was an installer for the telephone company.
6136 Nimitz Drive, Indianapolis, Indiana in June 2011
Louis lived in New York, New York, 10008-0116 in 1983 according to U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1. This was after he left the family. He continued to support the family by sending money to Yolande. He was 51 years old at this time.
399 Passaic St, Hackensack, New Jersey in Aug 2012
Louis lived at 399 Passaic St, Apartment 1, Hackensack, New Jersey, 07601-1543 in 1993 according to U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1. He was 61 years old at this time.
I was contacted by someone recently that knew Louis. I will not be posting any personal information about my contact to protect the living. However, he has given permission to post the information he was able to provide me about Louis.
Louis Aloysius Miller Jr
In his original email, he sent the photo above of Louis. He took the picture of that portrait while visiting a female member of his family. He explained that Louis met her in an airport, presumably in Indianapolis, while waiting to fly back to New York after the Indy 500. He wasn’t sure which year. She mentioned knowing that he had been married in the past but was not aware of children and did not pry on his personal affairs.
We will call her his companion as they never lived together but were very close for a long time. They use to travel together, often to Georgia to visit her family, and they would stay in separate hotel rooms.
Louis (middle) with sibling and parents of his long time companion in 1967.
My contact described him as a very handy guy, good at understanding how things work and fixing them, whether electronic or not. There’s a nice display cabinet in her apartment that he made, with their initials intertwined. He worked with this gentleman’s father to create a seven card stud poker game for the Commodore 64 computer, and later for the IBM PC. In fact, he has a copy that he says sorta works on a modern computer.
Death
Louis died at 9:13pm on 3 January 1996 in Hackensack, New Jersey at Wellington Hall Nursing Home. He was 63 years old at the time of his death. According to U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Louis is resting in Memorial Park Cemetery with his wife Yolande A. Biver.
YAB Headstone
Louis is one of my big mysteries. I never met him and I’ve heard some stories about him, but I am unable to find much information on him. I heard that he had some patents, something to do with putting lights to music. I know that he wrote some letters to some of my relatives, a few of which I have in my possession. However, I am not including them here yet…again, to protect the living. Maybe one day I’ll redact the names in the letters and post them anyway.
If you knew Luis and would like to share your memories of him, I’d love for you to put them in the comments box below. I did not know him but I wish I would’ve met him. He sounds like a very interesting guy.
As always, I’ll continue to update this post as I find additional information.
Take Care,
~Kris
LAMJ Family Tree
