Hard Work, Pride Gave Us 'Bob Miller's Bridge'

"He said it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen, the bay and the substructure of the bridge emerging from the water," says Mr. Miller's niece, Liz Miller. "His face lit up when he talked about it, even after all these years."

Ms. Miller visited her uncle as he lay in a hospice in Westminster two weeks ago. "Of course, he told me about the Bay Bridge," she says. "It must have been the dream of a lifetime. ... He was so proud to have worked on it."

People back home in West Virginia used to call the Bay Bridge "the bridge Bob Miller built." He worked on many other projects, including the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and the second span of the Bay Bridge. He was widely respected in his profession. He died Aug. 28. He was 80.

His niece spoke at his funeral and said the same words there that I've quoted here. Liz Miller works for the Office of Highway Maintenance in Prince George's County. She's worked on the Connecticut Avenue Bridge project, on the River Road noise wall, on the Leonardtown bypass - things she can point to, with pride.

"I'm not sure I know what makes someone a remarkable man," she told fellow mourners, many of them from West Virginia. "But I do know that my Uncle Bob did remarkable things. ... Go and see Bob Miller's bridge before you go home. He would love that."

Dan Rodricks' column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. He is host of the Midday talk show on WYPR-FM.