Members of the Paul Henson YMCA community this week are mourning the loss of Clay Miller, 18, who died in the rural Missouri automobile accident that killed 2012 SM East graduate Mark Harken and injured four of their friends.
Miller was a well-liked lifeguard at the Paul Henson YMCA pool, where he had worked since October 2013.
“He was a good kid who always picked up extra shifts,” said Paul Henson YMCA executive director Ashley Wohlgemuth. “He even worked here on the Fourth of July when practically every lifeguard wanted the holiday off.”
Miller had just graduated from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in Kansas City, Mo., and was preparing to take time off to do mission work in Argentina before attending college. He sent a message to friends and family last month in hopes to raising funds for the mission work:
Between lifeguarding for a living, fostering adorable and helpless kittens, and donating bone marrow to a blood cancer patient I found out about through a St. Peter’s parish drive, I’ve been pretty busy with this whole “nice guy” act. And now I want to do more!
“He was a good, quiet kid that will be deeply missed,” Wohlgemuth said. “As one member put it this morning, ‘He took his job very seriously!'”
Miller had a brother, Cole, who attends Bishop Miege.