Ex-judge, longtime attorney dies at 92
Published 12:00 am Sunday, January 23, 2011
Longtime attorney and civic leader John Milliken died Thursday night at a Bowling Green nursing home.
Milliken, 92, was a fixture in the city’s legal community, practicing as an attorney for 60 years and also serving eight years as a Warren County judge.
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Most of Milliken’s work took place in the College Street building that bears his name, where he worked in a law firm in the Milliken building alongside his late brother, G.D. Milliken Jr., and his cousin, Currie Milliken. Milliken’s father, G.D. Milliken, was an attorney as well and he and John practiced together, and John’s sister was a receptionist at the firm for many years.
“It’s the natural place for me to be,” Milliken said of his office at the Milliken Building in a 2003 Daily News story. “I feel it’s almost like a second home.”
Milliken remained a dedicated attorney in real estate and administrative law up to the final years of his life – he finished his last case in November, according to his daughter, Libby Davenport.
He was able to balance his professional and civic obligations with a devotion to his home life, raising Davenport and two other daughters, Nan Crow and Becky Waldkirch, with his wife of 63 years, Barbara Thompson Milliken, who survives.
“As far as a father, he was supportive in anything we did,” Crow said. “He went to every ballet recital, every piano recital, every swim meet. He was a fun dad to have, we were very fortunate.”
Milliken’s daughters said that John and Barbara had a very loving marriage, strengthened by frequent golf outings and games of bridge together. The couple met at the University of Michigan Law School after John was discharged from the Army following World War II.
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His daughters recalled Milliken as someone who passed on a love of horticulture to his children, who enjoyed taking the family on vacations and teaching his daughters about the places where they went.
John was also a quick wit who was ready with a joke, many of them involving golf.
Before joining the Army, John graduated from Vanderbilt University, where he lettered in basketball as a point guard for three years and ran on the track team.
Described as a “staunch Democrat” by his daughters, John was an avid reader and a member of the Mid Century Literary Club for many years. Milliken enjoyed political memoirs and kept up with current events, and never missed a chance to vote in an election, including the November elections when John was in failing health.
As a judge, Milliken formed the Juvenile Advisory Committee and was instrumental in the construction of a juvenile detention facility and the renovation of the old Warren County Courthouse during his eight years in office.
Milliken was also the attorney for Bowling Green’s urban renewal project that began in the 1960s, acquiring land in the Parker-Bennett and Jonesville neighborhoods and helping relocate residents from those neighborhoods to improved housing.
“He worked tirelessly on that project, to help get that thing off the ground, get the land acquired and folks relocated,” Currie Milliken said.
Currie recalled the tireless work ethic that John applied to his practice.
“He was as fine a gentleman as you’d ever want to meet. He always had the interests of his client at heart, particularly those who couldn’t afford lawyers,” Currie Milliken said. “He never turned down a case on the basis of inability to pay that I ever knew of.”
Beyond his law practice and family, John Milliken was also an active community leader, serving as president of the Bowling Green/Warren County Jaycees, the Bowling Green/Warren County Chamber of Commerce and Bowling Green Rotary Club.
He sat on the board of directors of several local organizations and was one of the founders of what is now Bowling Green’s chapter of the United Way.
Family and colleagues consistently described Milliken as a fair-minded, approachable person who was generous with his time and who many people held in high regard.
“If you met him, you sure would have liked him and you’d have great respect for him,” Davenport said.