Tom Miles

Tom graciously sent Kearney Creates some of his stories, and we will be running some of them periodically in association with various holidays.

Tom's stories are simple but profound, often have a continuing cast of characters, and touch the heart.

Tom Miles was raised here in Kearney at the corner of 24th Street and 2nd Avenue. That was in those days the Rectory for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church where Tom’s father, Richard, was the Rector.

While a youngster here, he and his friends played in bands, and Tom became a very proficient bass viol player. He volunteered his first bass as a loaner to a group that had a bass player but no bass. Sadly, it came back from their tour with its neck broken. Its repair added to its stature. It was repaired by Wes Hird.

Tom went on to serve in the Army, go to seminary, serve as priest in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, and retire. During his priesthood, however, he developed a story series entitled The Liar’s Bench, and he has treated several audiences over the years to the stories in that series. The stories are simple but profound, often have a continuing cast of characters, and touch the heart with laughter and tears.

They all end the same way—Well, that’s all I can tell for the time being. Thanks for settin’ with me on the Liar’s Bench where the truth is stranger than fiction and fiction is strangely true. He came by this naturally-his mother Ruth was descended from Rudyard Kipling.

Kearney Creates joins in the celebration of Kearney’s Sesquicentennial by focusing entries on Locally Grown, those born here or with a significant amount of their formation here who have continued here or elsewhere to practice the arts, and conversely those with large reputations elsewhere who stopped in Kearney to play some music, show some art work, read some of their writing, appear on our stages, our Visiting Artists.

Please visit Locally Grown for more on this subject.

People: Tom Miles Categories: Literature, Music, Writers Tags: locally grown
Robert Miller’s INSIGHTS Questionnaire  ...comments by Tom Miles
This collection of writings is my off—the—top—of—my—head response to your tantalizing ques…
Categories: Literature, Stories Tags: locally grown
Cemetery Picnics  Article
What Margaret was thinking about as she passed the G.A.R. Monument, and the graves of the Civil War …
Categories: Stories
Margaret’s Thanksgiving 
You would think the oncoming season would make most folks around Cottonwood Corner think warm and h…
Categories: Literature, Stories Tags: locally grown
Resolutions 
I suppose the first resolution to bite the dust was Rolly’s. He vowed he would cut down on all tho…
Categories: Literature, Stories