Maurice Miller

Maurice Miller, 83, died March 20, 2013.

He was born Jan. 12, 1930, the son of Edward & Ida (Grieme) Miller in Alta, Iowa. He graduated from Alta High School in 1948, earned a bachelor of science degree from Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1952 and later in life a master of science degree at Minnesota State University (Mankato). He taught in several schools in Iowa and Minnesota, and his last job was 11 years as principal at Baxter.

1952 was a memorable year for him — college graduation in May, married June 7, drafted into Army on July 9 and his troop ship passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco after three weeks on the ocean, arriving in Tokyo, Japan, on Christmas morning. After 18 months in Korea, the snow-covered coastline of Canada and the United States was a very welcome site.

Maurice enjoyed playing cards, reading, square and round dancing, music, fishing and hunting, wood-working and writing for The Miller Press, which was mailed to his high school classmates four times a year since 1998, the year of his 50th class reunion.

Maurice and Ruth enjoyed 60 years of marriage. In addition to his wife, Ruth, his survivors include two daughters, Cynthia of Des Moines and Juli (Wayne) Saak of Baxter; sister Delores (Bernie) Rehnstrom of Cedar Rapids; sister Marjorie (Lou) Donnelly of Fairmont, Minnesota; sister-in-law Doris (Keith) Gerry of Oregon, Wis.; five grandchildren, Aaron, Jennifer, RaChelle, Justin and Lindy; and six great-grandchildren.

The visitation will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 22, 2013, at Bethany UCC. His funeral service will be at Bethany United Church of Christ, about a mile east of Baxter, at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 23, 2013.