When Dan Miller was growing up, his family lived about a mile away from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc. He had eight siblings and the family was poor. His father, Robert, supported them by working at Consolidated Papers Inc.

"My father did not lead a happy life," Dan says during a visit with his wife Celeste Januszewski to StoryCorps in Chicago earlier this month. "I don't know if he felt trapped in the paper mill, but by the time, you know, I was little, he was a pretty serious alcoholic. If he was mad at us for something, he would take his belt out of his pants and just hit us with it."

Robert Miller died in 2001. Click on the audio link above to hear Dan Miller, 56, reflect on the influence his childhood had on him as a dad.

Audio produced forMorning Editionby Anita Rao.

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