Joe “Cecil” Miller, 1957 Laurel (Appalachian High School Yearbook. It’s unclear why Miller listed “Cecil” as his yearbook nickname, although it was his father’s name.
Noyes Capehart Long and Eric Plaag
November 24, 2025
The Watauga County Historical Society (WCHS) continues to expand its roster of Hall of Fame inductees for the year 2025, building on an initiative started in 2022 as part of Boone’s 150th celebrations. WCHS is delighted to announce that Joseph “Joe” Claude Miller (1939-2023) has been selected as the first of its two inductees for 2025.
For those who knew Joe personally, it will not be a shock that the quotation accompanying his senior photo in the 1957 Appalachian High School yearbook read, “The world would sure be dull without me.” And that eighteen-year-old young man was absolutely right. Were Joe able to be here with us today, he would probably reply to this honor with his characteristic dry humor—somehow self-deprecating even as he boasted ridiculously—by saying, “Well, it sure took y’all long enough to do this.”
Joe’s start in life was as noteworthy as the rest of it. He was born on February 17, 1939, in the doorway leading into the stairwell to Dr. Hagaman’s office on King Street, just steps from where Joe would spend much of his career, his parents Cecil and Flossie Miller having rushed his mother there by car when she went into labor. A graduate of Appalachian High School in Boone in 1957, Joe continued on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he completed a degree in Pharmacy. After college, he returned to Boone to work as a pharmacist at Boone Drug Store, a position he held for many years, eventually becoming a partner in the business.
In the meantime, Joe also briefly attended the University of Iowa with plans to become a taxidermist. Early ventures also included a shop called The House of Joseph, where Joe crafted and sold carved mushrooms, figurines, and other crafts. Ever the savvy marketer, Joe also frequently kept his community entertained; one of his signature schemes was selling cans of air that had been pushed by the wind turbine perched atop Howard’s Knob.
In the early 1980s, Joe signed up for private watercolor lessons with ASU art professor Noyes Capehart Long [in full disclosure, one of the authors of this piece], and shortly thereafter, in early 1984, Joe dedicated a portion of the Boone Drug Store to a display for “Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff.” According to Long, part of Miller’s rationale for this new angle was that by selling art supplies that he acquired at wholesale, he’d personally save on his art materials for his classes by not having to order them from the national vendors. While some in the community viewed Miller’s new venture as a frivolous boondoggle, if not contrary to their definition of drugstore dignity, Joe was, after all, creatively inclined and, more importantly, the most senior partner in the firm.
Within months, Joe was experiencing the demands of a growing customer base. He acquired a large tract of land in Boone’s Industrial Park and in short order moved Cheap Joe’s to a brand-new, 20,000-square-foot structure. Almost overnight, Cheap Joe’s was on par with some of the country’s leading art suppliers. His business flourished, and he was soon shipping art supplies around the world, having attained both national and global recognition.
The impact of Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff prompted Joe to begin offering watercolor workshops taught by nationally known watercolorists. Their presence immediately attracted students from all parts of the state and beyond. These three- to four-day workshops brought a considerable amount of revenue to local restaurants and businesses and helped boost Boone’s reputation as a tourist destination. One of Joe’s most admirable charitable contributions to the Watauga community was his “Brushes for Vincent” program. Patterning his concept on Theo van Gogh’s financial support of his brother Vincent, Joe wanted to support the art interests and needs of children in the local community. As Joe noted in a 2000 interview with Ray Mullins for Appalachia: Ways of Seeing, Ways of Knowing, “In the beginning, we tried to give art materials to any group or organization requesting them, one of which was an organization asking for art supplies for children who were physically or mentally challenged. Put simply, the organization had little money with which to make such purposes.” Joe expanded his concept by giving away returned or exchanged items. Rather than dispose of these returned materials, he “recycled” them by sending them to burn units, orphanages, and hospitals.
It is difficult to list Joe Miller’s many efforts on behalf of Boone without missing a few. Reference has been made to Joe’s personal courtship with watercolor in the 1980s. By sheer will and determination, Joe essentially taught himself how to attain the technical means of expressing himself through pictures. In 2006, the American Watercolor Society—arguably the most prestigious watercolor society in America—awarded Joe the coveted Dolphin Medal for his watercolor skills. To put the Dolphin Medal in proper perspective, between 1981 and 2006, only twelve individuals were awarded the prize. Among them is Andrew Wyeth, one of this country’s most accomplished artists. In similar fashion, Boone’s own Rufus Edmisten bestowed the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award on Joe Miller in February 2017. While the more conventional Eagle Scout Award has been earned by a half a million young men, the “Distinguished” version of the award has gone to only a select few, including Gerald Ford, J. W. Marriott, Neil Armstrong, and Stephen Spielberg.
Miller was also a recipient of the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine and the National Watercolor Society Arts and Humanities Award. He was the author of several books, including Joe’s Journals: The Art and Tales of a Sojourner (2002) and a children’s book, One Night, Two Moons (2014). Both books featured his watercolors.
Because of Joe Miller's remarkable role in shaping the cultural history of Boone and Watauga County during his lifetime, including his positive influence on the lives of so many young people (and the young at heart) when it comes to the arts and watercolor in particular, we are delighted to honor him with a well-deserved spot in WCHS’s Hall of Fame for 2025.
The WCHS Hall of Fame honors individuals, either living or dead, who have made significant and lasting contributions to Watauga County’s history and/or literature, including those whose efforts have been essential to the preservation of Watauga County’s history and/or literature. Honorees need not have been residents of Watauga County. The WCHS is particularly interested in honoring individuals who meet the above criteria but who may have been overlooked in traditional accounts of Watauga County’s history and literature, including women and people of color. Selections for this year's class were made from nominations submitted by members of the Digital Watauga Project Committee (DWPC) of the WCHS as well as the public.