Elwood Miller was born on March 9, 1919 in Brunswick. He grew up the youngest brother on the Miller Dairy Farm. His brothers said he was spoiled, not having to work as much on the farm as the others. He told stories about growing up as a boy on the farm and had strong memories of the dinners his mother served, mentioning often how they would have roasted chicken for Sunday supper. Sometimes the only dessert his mother would serve would be a small cup of maple syrup. After graduating from Troy High School in 1938, he joined the Marines and was shipped out for training. He married his high school sweetheart, Florence Carlson, in 1943. Florence was born in Brooklyn to first generation Americans on November 21, 1921. Her father was Swedish (Eric) and mother was German (Katherine Huber). Her maternal grandparents owned a bakery in Brooklyn and moved to Poestenkill early in the 1910s because of health problems that were aggravated by the air quality in the city. All of the Huber grandchildren came up to spend the summers in the country. Katherine and Eric divorced. The reason often told was because he refused to leave the city. He was a plumber/pipe-fitter and found work outfitting new buildings in the NYC including Madison Square Gardens. Katherine and the girls moved north to live permanently in Poestenkill to care for her parents in the 1930s. Florence had jumped ahead a few grades to start high school in Troy in the fall of 1934. She and her sister, Dorothy, became good friends with Elwood and his group of friends.