Stewart Christopher Miller Stewart Christopher Miller- husband, son, brother, nephew, cousin, uncle, dad- a small word-only 3 letters, but how significant, at least to us. As most of you know, Dad is really step dad to almost all of us as married our Mom, Dolores, in 1966. However, and this is the highest compliment we can give, we NEVER ever felt like we were adopted or were anything less than his own children. Of course, that meant that things were not always easy or rosy but Dad tackled the sometimes daunting task of raising all of us with courage. He often displayed wisdom that would reach far into the future, as is evident in my marriage to David. We are soon to be married 30 years. Mom told me that soon after I met David, Dad told her “Let’s get her married to him before she changes her mind!” Or maybe before he changes his! As we visited this summer, Dad asked me to speak for all of us and he shared with us some of the details of his younger life and asked me to pass it on. Many things that he shared with us I did not even know so it was good for me to hear, too. Dad loved playing ball on the South Line-Claydon, Frontier, Loomis when he was young! He played left field and center field and enjoyed both positions. I found out he even did a little boxing growing up! Dad grew up on his family farm by Loomis and he recalled that he and his brothers and sisters would once in a while get to climb in the back of an old grain truck and rattle off to Shaunavon to the picture show! Dad farmed there with his family until 1949 when he began trucking. He drove truck for a number of years until he decided that he had witnessed too many accidents and had to find a new line of work. Dad was always a hands-on kind of person and many times he stopped to lend a hand and even a couple of times helped to save peoples’ lives. Then one day he decided to take a step toward saving his own life and in January of 1968 he made a decision to quit drinking- a decision he stuck to for the rest of his life!! During this time, Dad also worked at some service stations and then in about 1969 or 1970 he started working for Clark Farms ranching and farming. One of his jobs at Clark’s was to train David the summer that he worked there. (Dad wanted to be sure that I remind David of that). He continued that for about 30 years except for a couple of years that he trucked for Flexi-Coil. He enjoyed trucking for that time because he got to travel a lot and our Mom got to go with him. Their longest trip was from Dawson Creek, Alta. Down to the Gulf of Mexico and they even stuck their toe in the Ocean there! Dad was a man who was content in every situation and with the simple things in life. One simple thing he enjoyed was apple pie. One night, Chris told me, Dad snuck out to the fridge about 4 in the morning to eat the last piece of pie and he ended up dropping it on the floor! So he didn’t get to enjoy that piece. He loved Fishing, camping at Cypress Park and beating all of his children at card games! (we still think he had a system) We spent many wonderful times fishing at Duncairn Dam. I remember one time when I was very young, going with Dad and Barb underneath the bridge on the road to Gull Lake hunting for frogs for bait. There were lots of frogs and we had lots of fun. Ronald also remembers being there but he was too small to hunt for the frogs and had to stay in the car with Mom. Ronald also remembers going fishing with Dad one time when he was small and not catching any fish at all. Dad took one of his perch and tied it on to Ronald’s line and Ronald cast and fished with that perch on his rod for a long time!! I also heard from Ronald that when he was about 2, Dad had to fish him out of the water to save him from drowning, too! Another thing I remember and I’m sure that my siblings can too, is going to Swift Current for a special day at least once a summer. We would go into Swift Current and go shopping, then we would eat at KFC and then go to a drive-in movie! That was a time I would look forward to and always enjoyed. Every summer we would also go to Cypress Park and go camping for a week. We always camped at Lone Pine Campground there were always adventures there, too. Dad would climb the steep hill with us all the time and he always started our day out with his famous CAMPFIRE TOAST! There is nothing like the taste of that toast over the fire! Dad and Mom continued that tradition long we were grown up with our own families and every summer some or all of us would join them there for the week. Family traditions are a good thing. Dad was a hard working man who often found himself tackling Herculean tasks for his family. One time I remember Mom wanting to put a ROCK (translated BOULDER} in the yard at the Ricktic place. Dad told her it couldn’t be done and he wanted to know why when he picked rocks off the fields for a living would anyone WANT a boulder in their yard but pretty soon we heard the roar of the payloader coming up the road! The ROCK was so big that the payloader’s back wheels couldn’t even touch the ground but here it came into the yard!! Dad would do anything for his family!! Mom painted that boulder bright yellow and put a big happy face on it. I’m sure that it is still there because NO ONE else would try to move it. And then there were the pets! All the pets!! Dad claimed that he hated all the pets, especially the cats!! However, because we wanted them, he always allowed them Into the house and he always made sure they were taken care of and fed. Sometimes you would even catch him petting them. I remember that, for a long time, when we had Happy and Orphan, our dogs, that almost every night in the summer we would go down to the Frosty Treat and Dad would buy the dogs their own ice cream cone. Yep, he really hated them, all right!! Our daughter, Delee, lives in Florida so we decided to take Mom and Dad to Florida for their 70th birthday present. We had a wonderful time together and did the Disney thing, all of it!! Even then Dad was making sure that Mom was well taken care of. As we prepared to board the Monorail for Disney World, Dad could not figure out how Mom in her wheelchair was going to board the train as there was a wide space between the platform and the tram. He kept asking me what we were going to do and wanted an answer right now! I assured him that Disney had been doing this job for a long time and probably had a good idea of what to do but he was just making sure that Mom was being taken care of just as he was always making sure that all of us were taken care of! Dad was always there for us and would lend a willing helping hand to us no matter what project we had up our sleeve! He always showed up to help us out. Dad’s highlight in Florida was the day we went to Cypress Gardens and saw the tree that put down roots! This tree had brought over from Africa and was a totally unique tree in the way it grew. The tree starts with a single trunk and begins to branch out just like any other tree. Its’ uniqueness comes from what happens next. As the branch gets too long for the tree and begins to bend toward the ground and break, the trunk of the tree sends out a signal and begins to grow a new root out of the branch to support it! Whole villages in Africa live under the shelter of that tree. Dad thought that the way the tree grew reminded him of family support each other in the various circumstances of life and he was so right. In the summer of ’04, Dad was given the opportunity to go on an Alaskan Cruise with his sister Irene and her family. That was a big highlight for Dad and he wanted me to make sure I told about! They flew out of Calgary and boarded the Cruise in Vancouver, BC. From there they cruised up the Alaskan coast to Dawson and then flew back to Seattle, Washington. Dad loved the scenery, the fellowship with his sister and family and the food on the cruise! Shortly after Dad was on his cruise, he came down to our place in Minot to spend a few weeks with us and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. Dad had driven as far as Estevan and then we came up and picked him up. The day we drove him back to Estevan we a got a phone call from our daughter Darrah saying that she was in labor And our granddaughter Kyra was on the way. As we both pulled out of Ailene’s driveway, David asked me if I wanted to ask Dad if he wanted to come back down and meet his newest great-granddaughter so we pulled over and waved Dad alongside us. I asked Dad and he said no he’d better not, so we started off again, this time with Dad in front of us. Suddenly, Dad was pulling over again and as we came alongside him, he rolled down his window and said “WHY NOT?”. So we pulled into Ailene’s driveway again and Dad came home and spent another week with us! Good times!! Dad was pretty adventurous sometimes, too, as he showed all of us when he all of a sudden this spring decided to go to Mexico! He called and told me that he had always wanted to go and what did I think? I told him I thought it was a great idea and to go and have a good time!! And he did!! Off he went all by himself and he had a great time and enjoyed everything about his trip. My last story that I want to share with you is by no means the end. Instead, it really is a beginning! A beginning of eternity! When Dad was staying with us in Minot he decided one Sunday to come to our church with us. I was very pleased that he had asked and of course we went. That day at our church a tragedy struck. A young man in our church died very suddenly and unexpectedly. Our pastor invited anyone who wanted to, to come to the front of the church and pray for Jesse’s family. I explained to my dad that I needed to go to the front of the church and Dad turned toward Dayton and I turned toward the front of the church. Suddenly I felt Dad’s hand slip into mine. I turned to look at him and he said to me, “I think I need to go up front, too!!” That day Dad asked Jesus Christ into his heart and entered into a personal relationship with God! Eternity is waiting for each one of us and I know that I will see Dad again in heaven. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the World that He gave His one and only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will NOT perish but WILL have eternal life.” God did not allow me to be with either Mom or Dad when they died but He did grant me the privilege of being with both of them when the accepted Christ into their hearts. So I KNOW I will be seeing them again in heaven. When we left the nursing home on the last day David and I saw Dad, he said to David, “I’LL SEE YOU AGAIN.” I know he was not necessarily talking about earthly time, but he was talking about eternity. And we will, Dad. So until then…….goodbye for now.