<\/p>\n
The council chambers at City Hall in Cortez were packed Saturday afternoon with people wanting to honor late councilman Tim Miller.<\/p>\n
More than 100 people attended the service, including several other council members and city staff along with Miller\u2019s two daughters and their families. Miller died of natural causes on Dec. 27 after almost two years on the council, and his family chose to open his memorial service to the public. Several people came forward throughout the service to share memories of Miller, whom they described as a good father and husband, a hard-working soldier and businessman, and a devout Christian.<\/p>\n
Miller\u2019s daughter Wendy Eytchison said the city of Cortez offered the council chambers as a location for the memorial service because of Miller\u2019s work there as a councilman.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was so proud to be on the council,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was very important for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the service mainly focused on other aspects of Miller\u2019s life, like his more than 50-year marriage to his late wife, Jo Anna. Their daughter Hattie Miller read from some of the letters Miller wrote to Jo Anna while he was deployed in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this year is over, we will never be separated again,\u201d one of the letters read. \u201cWe\u2019ll spend the rest of our lives making each other happy in our little world of love.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Millers remained together until Jo Anna\u2019s death in October 2017.<\/p>\n
TL Roofing, a Durango-based contractor company owned by friends of the Miller family, paid for appetizers to be served outside the chambers, catered from The Farm Bistro in Cortez. During the service, attendees looked at pictures from throughout Miller\u2019s life, his Purple Heart medal from combat in Vietnam and other mementos. Hattie Miller sang his favorite hymn, \u201cHow Great Thou Art,\u201d and Eytchison\u2019s husband, Matt, sang a rendition of Simon and Garfunkel\u2019s \u201cThe Sound of Silence,\u201d which Miller came to enjoy toward the end of his life.<\/p>\n
Although many city officials, including Mayor Karen Sheek, attended the service, most of them stayed quiet and let the family members speak. In the weeks following Miller\u2019s death, though, several people who served with him on the council spoke of his willingness to work with others, even though he often disagreed with them, and his quickness to admit when he had made a mistake.<\/p>\n
A recurring theme in all the family\u2019s memories of Miller was his love for others, which they said always drove his actions despite his sometimes abrasive personality. His granddaughter, Sadie Christensen, said he often shared Job, his favorite book of the Bible, with her during hard times.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the kind of person who always had everybody\u2019s back,\u201d she said. \u201cHe would read me this story and sit there and talk about how, through the most painful things, the most beautiful things come out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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