Funeral services for Roland Lee "Bud" Miller, 88, of Hettinger, ND will be Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. at the Centennial Chapel of Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Hettinger. Rev. Judy Banwart will officiate and burial will follow at the Hettinger Cemetery. Visitations will be from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 9 at the Centennial Chapel and one hour prior to the service on Saturday morning. A gathering of family and friends will be on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Centennial Chapel.

Roland Lee "Bud" Miller was born on December 27, 1923 to Edwin and Lavina Butterfield Miller in Hettinger, ND. He grew up on his parents' farm at Lodgepole, SD, with his brother Gordon and sisters Caryl, Joyce and Dorothy. He attended grade school at Lodgepole, SD and high school at Hettinger ND, graduating in 1941. He went to the Aviation Institute in Denver, CO. After graduating he worked on the PBY Catalina at Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego, CA. He returned to Lodgepole and worked with his father on the farm.


He married Shirley Bracewell on December 25, 1945 at Salt Lake City, Utah. (He picked this date so he would never forget his anniversary!). They were happily married for 66 years.


Bud and Shirley moved to Bellflower, CA where Bud worked at Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company in Downey, CA. Their daughter Connie was born while in CA. In 1947, they moved to Lodgepole and took over the farm after his father's retirement. Here they completed their family with another daughter Cindy and 3 sons, Lauren, Leo and Lane.


Bud loved to fish, play cards and tell stories. His pride and joy were his cattle. He was a steward of the land. He was on the founding board of the West River Telephone Cooperative. He held many offices with the Perkins County Cattleman's Association, served as a director on the Perkins County Soil Conversation Board, was a officer on the Lodgepole School Board and served as a 4H leader. He loved sports events and attended many that his sons participated in. He was member of The United Church of Christ in Hettinger, ND.


In his retirements years, he and Shirley loved to travel, spending winters in southern CA and taking trips to Mexico, Branson, MO, Deadwood and Mobridge, SD, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. They attended many family reunions in Iowa, South Dakota and Wyoming. After retirement he took up wood carving, attending many conventions and always returning with ideas for the next year's project. He did a lot of wood refinishing for his family.


Roland "Bud" Miller passed away on March 2, 2012 at the West River Regional Medical Center in Hettinger, ND. Bud will be remembered as a kind and gentle man who loved his family. He was always there to help his neighbors when needed.


He will be greatly missed by his wife Shirley and their children, Connie, Cindy (Roy), Leo (Debbie), Lane (Kristi) and daughter-in-law Deb, 11 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren, his sister and brother-in-law, Joyce and Hugh Thompson, brother-in-law Tony Ihle and many nieces and nephews.


He was proceeded in death by his parents, his son Lauren, son-in-law Tom Sims, brother and his wife Gordon and Naomi Miller, sister and her husband, Caryl and Franklin Pratt and sister Dorothy Ihle, his maternal grandparents Ed and Ella Brown Butterfield and paternal grandparents Christin John and Rosa Kahley Miller, his mother-and father-in-law Laurence and Dava Shelky Bracewell.


In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the West River Health Nurses or the Hettinger Food Pantry.