Estrella WarBirds Museum

Museum Curator
Exhibits and Artifacts

Betty Miller was born Elizabeth May Renton in Merced, California during WW II where her father Sgt. Arthur Renton, USAAF, was based at Merced Army Air Field (later to become Castle Air Force Base) Her father and her mother, Dorothy Sayles Renton, were both professional, and prominent musicians in southern California before the war and although the war curtailed their radio and opera work they were still able to sing and perform at events on base and at the local USO.

Betty was able to live and travel extensively throughout Europe with her parents from 1949 to 1952 as they studied Opera in Italy and then as they later performed in Germany and Austria. With all the exposure to music and art, it was natural for Betty to major in Theater and Art with a minor in History. Betty received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Redlands (California) and her Master’s Degree in Education from the University of California at San Luis Obispo. She holds a Life Teaching Credential in Elementary Education as well as a Life Teaching Credential in Secondary Education.

After teaching for six years, Betty changed careers and went to work in the Travel Industry, eventually owning two travel agencies, which she sold after a successful decade in business. During this period she also took to the skies and learned to fly. With travel in her blood she went to work in Passenger Service for a California commuter airline which was later sold to American Airlines. Betty became the Director of Passenger Service for the west coast American Eagle, with 350 employees and 23 cities in California, Oregon and Arizona under her supervision.

Following her husbands’ retirement she left American to travel by RV around the USA, later moving to Bend, Oregon where she went to work as a Designer in an Interior Design Studio for 4 years. The Millers returned to the Paso Robles - Atascadero area in 1997 and became involved in the Estrella Warbird Museum in the winter of that year.