Connie Miller moved to Orinda in 1973 and made history, becoming the first female faculty member in the mechanical engineering department at UC Berkeley.
Every Orindan knows the Orinda Library is a crown jewel of the city. From the eye-catching art installations to the monthly art galleries, and of course, the vast selection of books – the library is a true community hub.
Though not many are aware of the volunteer work that drives support for the library. Friends of the Orinda Library (FOL), a volunteer-run, local non-profit, owns the building and funds much of the daily operations.
Connie Miller is one of those volunteers who has put in hours of behind-the-scenes work to ensure the library’s success.
Miller began volunteering for the library after retiring in 2001 because she “needed something to do.” It’s clear from her background that she’s always kept busy.
After receiving her doctorate in mechanical aerospace engineering from Cornell, Miller went on to teach as an assistant professor at UC Berkeley, becoming the first female faculty member in their mechanical engineering department.
After making history there, she pivoted to doing research on geothermal flow patterns at the Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.
Miller first arrived in California in 1973 after landing the job at UC Berkeley. She and her husband, Jim Miller, packed up their lives and drove across the country from their native New Jersey. They settled on a house in Orinda, as it seemed like a healthy distance between Miller’s job at Berkeley and her husband’s job in Livermore at the lab.
The couple have two children, a son, 41, and a daughter, 43. Six months ago, Miller became a grandmother for the first time.
Miller is moving to the Washington, D.C. area in the coming months to be closer to her children, though she admits she’ll miss the close community feel of Orinda – a feeling she has undoubtedly contributed to, especially through her volunteer work at the Friends of the Orinda Library.
Miller’s greatest contribution to the library is her work selling books online through the FOL bookstore, a small bookshop of used and donated books that are sold to support the library.
Linda Landau, the FOL treasurer, recalls Miller deciding to try her hand at online book sales on eBay and Amazon in the early 2000s after someone had graciously donated a computer to the FOL. The endeavor was instantly successful and once she saw how much money she could bring into the library selling online, she began to do it nearly every day of the week.
“It feels like a treasure hunt, looking around for good books and finding ones that will sell,” said Miller.
Miller said the ability to reach buyers from around the world who were interested in specific niche books is what allowed some of the rarest books to get into the right hands, for the right price, of course.
Miller remembers getting her hands on a first edition copy of “A Streetcar Named Desire” shortly after actor Marlon Brando’s death and selling it for an impressive $1,300 – the proceeds of which all went back to the library.
“Connie’s been so dedicated to the library and the bookshop customers,” said Landau. “She will be missed.”
