Submitted by: Dan Rich
June 21, 1919 - March 22, 1998
South Bend Tribune 3/29/1998
SOUTH BEND - Mr. Lyndon Robert Milliken,
78, formerly of South Bend, Ind., died after a short illness on
Sunday, March 22, in Bloomington Hospital. Mr. Milliken worked in
public relations with the Studebaker Corporation and with the
United Way of St. Joseph County before he moved to East Chicago
in 1963 to head its Community Chest program. In the early `70s,
13 community funds combined to form the Lake Area United Way. Mr.
Milliken retired from the United Way in 1981 and moved from
Munster, Ind., to Sullivan, Ind., and then to Bloomington, Ind.,
in the early `90s. He was born on June 21, 1919, to Kyle and
Dollie (Anderson) Milliken in North Liberty, Ind. He
attended school in Lydick, and in 1937 was graduated from South
Bend Woodrow Wilson High School. He worked at the Sibley Machine
and Foundry, and in April 1941 was drafted into the Army. He was
a staff sergeant in Battery A of the 731st Field Artillery
Battalion. He was in five European battles, including the Battle
of the Bulge, under Gen. George S. Patton. After his discharge in
1945, Mr. Milliken entered Indiana University and graduated in
journalism in 1949. He was a leader in dormitory government, was
on the staff of the Indiana Daily Student and was a member of the
Sigma Delta Chi professional journalistic fraternity. After
college he was in public relations at the Studebaker Corporation,
was editor of the monthly Studebaker Spotlight employee magazine,
and was a freelance writer and photographer for the South Bend
Tribune.
He became involved in the United Way
volunteer works while at Studebaker, and joined the St. Joseph
County unit in 1956. When he left for East Chicago in 1963, he
was director of public information and education. Mr. Milliken
was married in 1948 to Dolores Balcain, who died in 1991.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, two brothers and a
sister. He is survived by three children, Gregory L. Milliken of
Daytona Beach, Fla., Jan Milliken Carmichael of Sullivan,
Ind., and Gary Milliken of Zionsville, Ind.; four grandsons and
one granddaughter; and by two sisters, Zelda Palmiter and
Marvel Kline, both of South Bend. He was a member of the
Masonic Lodge, Scottish Rite, American Legion and the Ernie Pyle
Society.
Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. on
Saturday, April 4, in the Welsheimer Funeral Home, 521 N. William
Street. Burial will be in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. Memorial
contributions may be made to the United Way of America.