The school is named after Grace Hileman Miller (1878 - 1955), who moved to La Verne in 1904 from Pennsylvania and called it home until her death in 1955.  During her lifetime Mrs. Miller devoted herself to helping others, and her heart reached out to the children of the community.  Mrs. Miller taught Sunday school for sixty years, many of which were served as a superintendent and a nationally recognized leader in Children's work.  She devoted much of her time to the Y.W.C.A, the Red Cross, the Community Chest, Parent Teacher Associations, the newspapers, the Spanish-American groups, and many other organizations that were fortunate enough to work along side such a gifted person.

When La Verne was preparing to break-ground at the sight of their newest school, the school board was still considering names for the school.  Parents, teachers, students, and local citizens were all in agreement that the name should be Grace Miller Elementary.  The community never before had a citizen who worked more tirelessly or unselfishly for the moral and spiritual welfare of the children than did Grace Hileman Miller.  She was active in practically every character-building community organization there was.  She represented all the characteristics that a community would love to see in their schools, and there was just no better choice when it came to naming the school.

The name of the school came easy and our school mascot soon followed.  The Grace Miller school site originally had a lemon grove in the northeast corner instead of the baseball diamonds.  The lemon grove was home to many local animals including coyotes and birds.  A roadrunner who lived in the lemon grove often made an appearance at recess time to watch the students play.  Because it was a frequent visitor, the decision was made to make it the official mascot.  Up until the most recent years, roadrunners were still being sited on the school campus and in the local community.