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Post By:
Rhona Lee Pavis
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I have many positive memories of Miles. I am deeply saddened by his death and the loss to our world of his bright light. I was always welcome to stay at his home, though I was unable to take advantage of his invitations. He hosted relatives of mine who were as impressed by him as I always was. When I was in Bisbee, we hung around together. I appreciated his creativity and general open and loving spirit. I believed in him as a creator, a loving humanist and more. I was so happy for him at how very much he enjoyed his grandchildren. How I wish he had had more years to enjoy them. I met the word clock and appreciated that before I met Miles. I was delighted to meet and get to know the inventor. I will always cherish the memories I have of him. |
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Post By:
Matt
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I am Alexi and Steve's neighbor in Boston, MA. I met Miles and we played chess outside at Espresso Royale Cafe on Newbury St. He told me all about his inventions and life in Bisbee, both of which I often daydreamed of. He was kind and friendly and his smile was infectious. I am honored to have known this great thinker and creative man. Thanks to the Conine Family for being great neighbors. Would love to know about a Word Clock! |
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Post By:
Alan Abel
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When I learned of Miles' demise I couldn't believe it. And I still don't believe it. He's really up there looking down and listening with pleasure over all the accolades his family and friends bestowed on him. Miles was like a brother to me over the past two decades that we played pranks on the media and enjoyed a deep friendship. He would call or just show up and we continued a conversation that never seemed interrupted. Miles was an original and will always be memorable and alive in my mind. He participated in many hoaxes too numerous to mention. But anyone can review them on www.alanabel.com It's not goodby Miles, Lexi and Steve, but my thanks for the heartfelt memories. |
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Post By:
Mark Harrison Kurber
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Great memory for today:
Miles and I swam acroos Stockbridge Bowl and back one day a couple of decades ago... the sky was crazy, thunder, lightning. We were nuts that day! We climbed out of the lake and Ed Darrin was sitting in his Mercedes at the beach with a concerned look (Ed and Miles went to school together years ago). "Richard", he yelled, "don't you realize there's a tornado warning?" We got a great laugh!
Thanks, Alexi, for bringing beachballs. Miles' is sitting in a rocking chair on our patio. I'm reminded of his BIGGER than life every day. Our word clock sits in our office and Rebecca and I seek lateral wisdom often and for extended periods. |
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Post By:
David and Juanita DeMello
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We first met Miles when we bought a house across the street from him, and although we were never close, we did visit back and forth a few times and always enjoyed his company.
He beat David at chess and I don't think they ever had a grudge match. There was something about me that reminded Miles of his wife, because he always said that I would have like his wife; and she sounded very special when he talked of her.
Miles bought our old Dodge van, and we gave him an old camper which he put up at the property on the hill for awhile until someone went by and offered to buy it from him. Because he had got it for nothing from us, he insisted on buying us dinner to share his good fortune.
Miles was a good person, and that's for sure. Today I went to a yard sale here in town and bought some books. As I was buying them I was told that they had belonged to Miles, although the seller did not know him. He did however show me some photos that were found in one of the books. A young lady is in most of the pictures. Dark curly hair, attractive. I suspect she might be Alexi? I took the photos home because I knew how to contact you and I would be happy to mail them to you. Please contact me if you would like them. :)
Again, we are sorry for your loss and it is a loss for all who knew him, as he made the world a little brighter with his presence in it. |
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Post By:
Jim McInerney
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I met Miles the first night I arrived in Bisbee. Wandering along Main Street, I stopped into Muddy’s Café to get out of the bitter, cold, December night. Having spent the previous fives days among the worst juvenile delinquents that Vision Quest had to offer, it was a great relief to encounter some intelligent conversation.
Miles was sitting in a back booth with his ubiquitous cup of coffee and a chess board. Ostensibly, he was playing Bill, the burly propritor, but it seemed the owner had more pressing duties and was often away from the game. I sat down at a nearby table to better watch the game. However, within a short period of time it became increasingly apparent that Miles’s position was hopeless. While Bill was off attending to another customer Miles looked over to me and said,” Guys a chess master. I beat him last game and now he’s pissed.”
I looked at the board and nodded in agreement.
“Do you see any way out?” he asked.
“No.” I replied. “I’d resign and start all over.”
Miles looked at the board again and called out his intentions to Bill. The request for a rematch was declined. Shrugging his shoulders, he motioned for me to pull up a chair; thus beginning one of Bisbee’s longest running chess rivalries and great friendships.
Through the subsequent years, Miles and I played hundreds of games: at his house, the old Quarter Moon, the Bisbee Coffee Company Café, as well as numerous parties and gatherings. On this particular night, I got an excellent glimpse into the character of the person that I was to spend so much time with in the future. Miles had an unorthodox sense of humor and very much enjoyed thinking up and playing pranks: a sort of thinking mans’ practical joker.
Just before the 2 a.m. closing time, two heavily bundled figures approached the table to remind Miles of their impending rendezvous. “Right, right,” he said in a conspirational tone. “Now,” he said to me, “It’s time to show Bisbee the true meaning of Christmas.” He rose from the table and we all filed out of the café and into a waiting van then drove to the roundabout in Lowell. Miles, pulled the sliding door open and raced to the middle of the traffic circle where he quickly placed a large, battery operated, blinking neon lighted dollar sign on top of the heavily ornamented Christmas tree. The rest of us, “lookouts” returned to the van and we sped off into the night laughing all the way back to town. The dollar sign didn’t stay up too long considering it was right under the nose of the new police station but long enough to make many Bisbonians’ smile.
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Post By:
Arlene Teck
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A haiku for Miles:
among the headstones
marking the grave of our friend
a beach ball |
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Post By:
Alexi Grenadier Conine
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I feel incredibly lucky to be Miles' only child. I can’t imagine a more silly and fun-loving person to have grown up with. He loved kids, games, pranks and practical jokes, gizmos and gadgets, living on buses, boats and funky campers, writing wordlists, waterwalkers, solar power, purple pens and beachballs. He liked to tell the story about taking me to Disney World and spraying water on unsuspecting people with squirt pens. We played tennis, miniature golf, and obscure boardgames like “Big Deal” and "Topple". Of course he was a master of every game, particularly chess, scrabble and ping pong. He always played with enthusiasm and with his unique style. Monopoly was one game he always played like he lived his life. I would play the conservative banker, and he would go for broke – all or nothing – investing in real estate and then mortgaging his properties. He would either win big or go bankrupt. Unfortunately, the odds were against him, but it made for interesting games, and an outrageous life. Suffice it to say that I inherited my work ethic from my mother! His attempts to teach me how to ride a bike and drive a stick-shift were utter disasters, but we laughed about them later!
As I got older, and Steve and I planned our own trips, we often included my dad, because he was so much fun to be with, and he was always up for anything. We took him on some of the toughest hikes, from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, to the Sierra Nevadas in California, to Canyonlands National Park in Utah. He met up with us in London and Las Vegas. But most impressive were two road trips in which he drove a large cargo van as a support vehicle, navigating between remote huts and inns while simultaneously caring for Arden and Max (our kids) when they were infants, on our multi-day bike trips to Nova Scotia and Quebec! We have wonderful photos and memories from these adventures.
Miles was a forward thinker, a dreamer and an imaginative, prolific and poetic writer. His patent for an energy saving Vehicle Payload Lightener is probably even more viable today. His letters to executives at companies such as Timex and Rolex regarding random word clocks were so provocative that they often received responses that were equally as entertaining.
I can’t imagine a more devoted grandfather. Miles spent hours searching for the perfect books and toys for Arden and Max. He sent them packages of creative goodies regularly, and when he actually visited, our neighbor commented that it seemed like Christmas! He would arrive with bags of unique gifts that continue to excite and amuse his grandchildren. He took on the most challenging “babysitting assignments”, as he liked to call them, traveling all over with us to go to our friends’ weddings just to take care of Arden and Max.
At his memorial service, we gave everyone a beachball and a purple pen to take home with them. |
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Post By:
Arlene Teck
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At one point in Miles’ life, he spent time living in a school bus. He had bought the thing old, renovated it and put all his favorite things on board. He was based in western Massachusetts, near his friend Mark, who helped him keep the bus in repair. But he loved to drive, and would take that bus anywhere that something fun was going on.
In spring or late summer, to the Jersey shore for a Braintrust meeting on the beach. And, one summer, to visit us in Maine.
My mother and brother live in Maine, and we visit them a number of times during the year. In mid-July, we rent a nearby cabin right on the coast. So when Miles got his bus, we asked him if he would like to drive it to Maine and spend some time with us, on the coast.
We would sail together in Jaxon’s catamaran sailboat, and Miles would bring us a set of Styrofoam water-walkers, so that Jaxon could “walk” out to the mooring where his boat was, instead of swimming.
The directions to our cabin were easy – until you got to our nearby town of Blue Hill – but after that, there were weird highway numbers, and then you had to count houses and driveways.
So I gave Miles directions to an Exxon gas station in Blue Hill on a corner where the main street in town makes a “T” intersection with the state highway coming in. I would meet him there, and then direct him to our cabin. Jaxon was out fishing for a fresh mackerel dinner that he planned.
The day of Miles’ arrival was a glorious, beautiful summer day, though a bit hot for that part of Maine. I wore a bathing suit with a pair of short shorts and beach shoes, got myself a sandwich, a bottle of juice and a campstool, and a ride into town.
At the Exxon station a group of “I’ve lived here all my life” old guys would begin to congregate after lunch to hang out, play cards, have a cold one (or in winter a nip of something warming), gossip about local affairs, and joke about the tourists.
Some of them had never left town except to fight in World War II. All of them were retired.
I knew one of them. He was the former harbormaster and he lived next door to a friend of mine. We had visited him and his wife several times on their front porch, to listen to his stories about the old days.
On this particular day, I approached him and his friends at the gas station and asked if it was OK for me to eat my lunch there.
“Why sure,” he told me, but why would you want to?”
“Because I’m waiting for the bus to come,” I said.
“There hasn’t been a bus by here in 20 years,” he said, with a bit of a smirk.
“But one is coming today,” I volunteered.
I unfolded my stool, sat down and began to eat my sandwich. The men resumed their chatter around me.
And sure enough, about a half an hour later, Miles pulled up in his bus. I picked up my stool and went to meet him. From his driver’s seat he opened the door and, just before I got on, someone else with a backpack got out. Miles had apparently picked up a hitchhiker along the way.
As we drove away from the gas station, I looked back at the old men. Their jaws had dropped down to their belt buckles.
When Miles took a trip, it was not so much about reaching a grand destination, though he always had one in mind. His way was to enjoy the journey.
Miles did have a gift of vision. He could show you infinity with a wave of his hand.
Miles touched our lives forever, and his memorial service today moved my heart.
Lexi and Steve, you have our love and our tears. Please stay in touch -- about Miles and about yourselves. Jaxon and Arlene |
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Post By:
Harry Anifantakis
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Miles known as “the Great Guacamole” when I first met him in the 80’s. As such he sat in a booth at La Cocina, a Mexican restaurant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and would entertain challenges at chess. I loved to play tennis with him back then, but rarely won a match. He was quite an athlete.
My wife and I moved to Tucson a few years after he moved to Bisbee, AZ. Whenever I went to Bisbee alone I would stay with Miles. He was a warm, congenial host, always with interesting, if not amazing things going on in his mind. When staying with him in Bisbee, we always spent time sitting outside the coffee house across from the post office and greeting the locals. He would take me to the haunts of friends and regale me with stories of the colorful characters he knew from Bisbee and other places. Some of his stories included people from the “think tank” he belonged to. One such was Alan Abel and the group who would perform elaborate planned pranks. A few of them once interrupted the Donohue Show, at a prearranged cue, making believe they had fainted en masse. They also once got onto the field at a televised NFL football game and carried off a dummy on a stretcher.
I loved to accompany Miles on hikes on his property outside of Bisbee. Too bad he never got to install, and live in a sailboat on the mountain side, as was his plan.
I still don’t understand why nobody took up his idea of a random word generator, either on wristwatches or in other forms. I’ve thought it was a great idea from the first I heard of it back in the 80’s. I will miss the guy.
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Post By:
Jule Devoe
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Truly, Miles was a bright, kind, generous, thoughtful man.
When my dearest friend, Henry Couture, died and Miles saw me at the bank, he jumped from his place in line to greet me with a hug and helpful words. He even helped me by driving Henry's van and moving some of Henry's art work.
It was fitting that Miles was using his computer that day.
I had hoped to see his boat on that hillside one day. Maybe someday.
My sincere condolences to his family. Although his life seemed to be too short, he did so much more than many do with more time. |
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Post By:
Steven Conine
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On his last visit to us in Boston, Miles drove his Chinook camper. It was a classic 1970's design, that really stuck out when parked in our backyard. I helped him fix the rear door, which he had broken in his rush to get out to see us. I always loved to see the various vehicles that Miles owned over the years. He had a real skill at picking out things that were unique and somewhat endearing.
Last week when we were our in Bisbee, cleaning his house and going through his things there were times that were very tough, getting into that camper to clean it up really brought back vivid memories.
In classic Miles fashion we really did a "blitz" on his house. I remarked to Alexi that if Miles could come back after we had packed up and organized all of his things he would probably have loved it. 30 years of notes/letters and memories fit neatly into 23 boxes. He would be free from needing a house and could tour the country in his camper and finally perhaps buy a boat for his property.
Miles was using his computer the day he died. It was still on when we got to his house, sitting on the ping pong table. He had been checking option prices, reading the news and researching how to ship a boat to Arizona.
We took some amazing trips with him over the years.
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