Marion Aileen Miller

Marion A. Miller of Prescott, a beloved wife, mother, grand and great-grandmother and mother-in-law, passed away peacefully at her home on November 25, 2021. She was one month shy of her 94th birthday. Marion was born December 28, 1927, to Parker E. Rand and Dorothy F. Rand (Folliard) in Butte, Montana. Marion is survived by her husband of almost 75 years, Carl F. Miller, four of her five children, Carleen Stewart and her husband Dwight, Parker Miller and his wife Liz, Ron Miller and his wife Melanie, and Steve Miller and his wife Donna, ten grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren. Marion grew up in Butte and then Kalispell, Montana. In 1943 she moved with her mother and father to Kirkland, Washington where Parker Rand worked in the Naval shipyards during World War II. In 1944 they moved back to Missoula, Montana where Marion attended her senior year of high school at Missoula County High School. Her father passed away in 1945 and her mother and Marion moved back to Seattle to work. While attending a Navy-sponsored boxing event with a friend in 1946, she met one of the light-weight boxers, Carl Miller. Thus began a courtship with the tall and scrappy sailor from Missouri who fought in the Pacific during World War II. They married in Missoula in March 1947. After working in Marion’s brother’s sheet metal shop in Missoula a few years after the War, Carl rejoined the military in the new U.S. Air Force. Over the next 17 years they raised their family of five children, the first two being born in Missoula, the next three being born in various Air Force bases or Naval bases in various locations from California to Japan. Marion proved her Montana-borne toughness by caring for the family alone or sometimes with her family members while Carl was on TDY in various places around the world or fighting in Korea during the Korean war. Marion and Carl’s last station was Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. After Carl retired in 1969 completing 20 years of active duty military service, Carl began his second life-long career as a minister in the Assemblies of God church. While Carl pastored at various churches in Arizona from Phoenix to Cottonwood to Bisbee and Sunizona, Marion was always the backbone of caring and compassion in their churches. Whether Marion was playing the piano or organ during service, teaching Sunday School classes or organizing church dinners and picnics, everyone always saw the Christian love and compassion expressed through Marion. She committed her life to caring deeply for her family, the members of their church and the community around them. In her later years Marion lived with Carl in Dewey and followed their daughter Carleen and her husband a couple times to Texas. They moved back to Prescott for their final years in 2018. Marion loved to spend her time with family and friends, going to church, winning at Bingo, writing poems and sending birthday and anniversary cards to her numerous offspring. She loved much and was loved much in return. Marion will be laid to rest in the Columbarium at National Cemetery in Prescott. At the request of her husband Carl, memorial services will be postponed until he joins her in Glory, and then friends and family can celebrate their long lives together.Arrangements entrusted to Ruffner-Wakelin Funeral Homes, please log on to www.ruffnerwakelin.com to sign the online guestbook and share a memory with the family.