Miller, Ivonette Wright

Ivonette Wright Miller is a niece of Orville and Wilbur Wright. She is the daughter of Lorin Wright, a brother of Orville and Wilbur. Ivonette was born in Dayton in 1896 and grew up in close proximity to her famous uncles.

Ivonette Wright Miller was born on April 8, 1896 to Lorin and Ivonette Stokes Wright. Ivonette's father, Lorin, was an older brother of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Ivonette attended Edison Elementary School and graduated from Steele High School in 1914. After graduating from high school she attended Oxford College where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1918. She married Harold Miller, a 1914 graduate of Steele High School and World War I pilot, on June 25, 1919 at Hawthorne Hill, the home of Orville Wright. The couple had three children. Their son Jack was born in 1920, but later died in 1933 after a long illness. A daughter, Ivonette, was born in 1921 and died in 1923. Finally, a daughter, Marianne, was born in 1935.

Miller was a soprano soloist in the choirs of Grace United Methodist and First Baptist churches in Dayton. She was a board member of the YWCA, the Dayton Women's Club, and the Dayton Music Club. She was a member of the Montgomery County and Kettering-Moraine historical societies, the National Women's Air and Space Museum, Aviation Trail, the President's Club at Wright State University, and the Dayton First Baptist Church. In 1981 she received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Wright State. In 1988 she received a "Trailblazer" award from the Aviation Trail Association.

For many years Ivonette was best known as the Wright family representative-particularly after the 1948 death of her uncle, Orville Wright. Whether christening a navy aircraft carrier or talking to a small local group, Ivonette was the person - until she was past 90 - who made Dayton's world-famous family real people with her intimate recollections of her bachelor uncles "Wil" and "Orv." She attended many ceremonies and dedications in honor of her uncles, appeared on network television shows, and gave more than 100 lectures on the Wright family. In 1978 Ivonette wrote about her experiences with her famous uncles in a book titled Wright Reminiscences. Her favorite story was when, at the age of 15, she flew in a Wright "B" Flyer with her "Uncle Orv" at Huffman Prairie in 1911. Afterwards, she reported that "The flight was very smooth, but windy. I felt very secure. I haven't been the same since." More importantly, she, and her husband Harold, an executor of Orville Wright's estate, preserved an archive of more than 6,000 priceless Wright photographs, papers, and memorabilia, most of which were donated to Wright State University.

Harold Miller died July 21, 1991, at the age of 95. Ivonette Wright Miller passed away on October 5, 1995 at the age of 99.