Robert Lee Miller

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Robert Lee Miller was born on November 5, 1934, in Denver, Colorado. He was the seventh of eight living children born to John Hermann and Anna Elizabeth Miller. He was baptized at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in the Denver neighborhood of Globeville, right across the street from their house.

His father’s family emigrated from Germany to Beideck in the Volga region of Russia when Catherine the Great encouraged Germans to bring their skills and work ethic to improve the country in 1763. The family continued their grain milling operation in their new country and farmed wheat.

When political instability overtook the country due to the communist uprising, land and personal property were starting to be confiscated. Christians were being executed or sent to labor camps if they did not renounce their faith. In 1913, his father and cousin were able to escape the country prior to the Russian Revolution. They came by boat to New York and then settled in Denver.

His mother’s family was also from the Volga Deutsch region in Russia and escaped the political turmoil by immigrating to Crespo, Argentina. The government welcomed German farmers with their “new” wheat seed to the country. They prospered until the socialists came to power. One early morning they were notified by local officials at gunpoint that their property now belonged to the new socialist government. In 1906, the family boarded a steamship for the weeks-long journey to Ellis Island, New York. After a short stay with relatives in Lehigh, Kansas, they settled in Denver.

Robert’s father died when he was only two years old in a workplace accident at the railyards.  He was raised by his single mother from that time forward.

Robert graduated from North High School in Denver in 1953. Early on in his life, he knew he was called to be a minister. But to realize his calling, he had to work several years of hard labor on the railroad to enable his further studies.

He attended Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, and did further studies at Midland College in Fremont, Nebraska. He graduated from Central Lutheran Theological Seminary in Fremont and received a Masters of Divinity from the University of Chicago.

On August 5, 1961, Robert was united in marriage to Erika Huber. This union was blessed with three children.

His student pastorate was in Wichita, Kansas, where the newly married couple lived in an apartment above a homeless shelter. Despite the setting, their home became the meeting place for all the other young pastors in town with coffee, day-old coffee cake, and much theological discussion. The homeless loved the young pastor and his wife and went out of their way to make sure they were protected.

Robert then took a dual parish at Trinity Lutheran in Dalton, Nebraska, and Messiah Lutheran in Broadwater, Nebraska. He always had a desire to serve rural communities and loved the people there. Then he moved on to become pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Otis, Colorado, where he spent the majority of his 40-year ministry until his retirement.

Pastor Miller, as he was always called, was known for the kindness and warmth that seemed to radiate from him. With his infectious smile and laugh, he always made time to stop and talk with everyone and make himself available, no matter the time of day or night, as was often the case. He never refused to do a funeral, wedding, or baptism, whether people were church members or not. He dedicated his life to the well-being of his family, church congregation, and community. He was a beloved pastor for all, and the world is a lonelier place without him.

In his spare time, Pastor enjoyed reading from his vast library and gardening. He always had a big garden and often advised and helped others plant their gardens. He had a green thumb, and whatever he planted tended to grow well.

He loved teaching about the Bible. His knowledge of history and the scriptures was amazing. His memory was almost photographic. If you wanted to know who Caesar Augustus’ second cousin on his mother’s side was, he could probably tell you. In retirement, he enjoyed gardening and leading a weekly neighborhood Bible study group and the fellowship and discussions that followed.

Pastor Miller passed away on October 17 at Eben Ezer Lutheran Care Center in Brush, Colorado.

He was preceded in death by his wife Erika, his father John, his mother Anna, brothers John and Glenn, and sisters Florence, Lillian, Elizabeth, and Elaine.

Mourning his passing are his sons, David and Eric (Anne), daughter Angelika (Eugen), grandsons Luke and Alexander, sister Velma Chaney, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews throughout the country.

The funeral service will be held Friday, November 1, 2024, at 11:00 am at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Yuma, Colorado, officiated by Rev. Dennis FitzPatrick. Internment at the Yuma Cemetery and arrangements made by the Baucke Funeral Home.

Memorials may be given in honor of Pastor Miller to St. John’s Lutheran Church, Yuma, Colorado.

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