Maurice Charles Miller

Maurice Miller was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend to many. His incredible integrity was woven throughout a lifetime of hard work and dedication given to any task or challenge set before him. Maurice’s growing family and his faith were his greatest treasures. He will surely be missed by his many special friends and family.

The 1920s were a period of sustained economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural flair. The media spotlighted upcoming jazz musicians, sports heroes, and movie figures. By 1929, the industry was booming until the market crashed that fateful October. Percy and Margaret (nee Wagner) Miller welcomed home their newborn son, Maurice Charles, on December 1st in Escanaba, Michigan. Born the youngest of three boys, Maurice was the proverbial baby of the family to his older brothers, Milton and Donald.

Maurice lived a typical childhood of the times where kids were known to find entertainment in the ordinary world of day to day living. He wasn’t much of a fisherman or camper, but did tag along from time to time with his father. He much preferred hanging with his close friends and playing war games. As a young teen, Maurice was interested in earning his own spending money and took a job delivering the local newspaper before school. Always on the go, he later delivered telegrams for Western Union after school let out in the afternoon! Resourceful and well disciplined, Maurice was able to use his earnings towards purchasing his first motor scooter. Born with an adventurous spirit, he and his buddies enjoyed an occasional thrill. They were known to stand on pieces of cardboard while holding onto a rope that was attached to the fender of a fast moving car and allow themselves to be pulled around the streets!

These days were short lived, however, once he met a special young lady at the local bowling alley. She went by her middle name of LaDonne at the time, and Maurice was so smitten with their first meeting, he began driving the distance between Escanaba and Gladstone just to hang out with her. After dating nearly four years, Maurice and Esther (LaDonne) joined in marriage on January 13, 1951. The newlyweds settled down in Milwaukee, until Maurice was later drafted on May 17th. Ordered to report to Camp Atterbury in Indiana, they knew they would be apart. Esther was expecting their first born at the time and decided to move back to Gladstone to live with her parents. A true sweetheart, Maurice took advantage of weekend passes to drive up to Michigan to visit his lovely bride and beautiful baby daughter, Diane. During the two years he served, Maurice spent time at Camp Desert Rock in Nevada, where he was at ground zero during an atomic bomb test. After being honorably discharged in 1953, he moved his family which now included his newborn son, Steven back to live in Milwaukee.

Maurice was a steadfast provider for his growing family and started work at Allis Chalmers while also enrolling in night school at Marquette University. Their son Jeffrey soon arrived. Balancing work, school, and three kids became too much to bear. As a result, Maurice decided to leave school. Within the following six years, he and Esther welcomed home three more daughters; Sherie, Kimberly, and Michelle. With six children, there was never a dull moment in the Miller household! They always had their door open for visiting friends of their children as well as several pets over the years from dogs, cats, goldfish, turtles, and birds. Although the years seemed hectic, Maurice wouldn’t have traded them for anything! He later went to work as a switchman for the Chicago-Northwestern railroad and found painting jobs on the weekends to make ends meet. Successful in his trade, he was eventually hired at Johnson Controls. His first year with the company he earned ten thousand dollars feeling as though he had hit the lottery! Working the battery division was tough work until he was later able to advance to becoming a driver and delivering batteries.

There were setbacks and layoffs, yet Maurice never lost his ambition. After a major layoff, he took his income tax refund and went to semi-truck driving school in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. He was proud to become a long-haul driver taking his truck coast to coast for almost two years. Returning home once every six weeks took a toll on him. Often missing his family, he returned to Johnson Controls as a local driver until he later retired. Never one to remain idle, Maurice missed driving and went to work with Riteway as a school bus driver until he officially retired at the age of eighty three years! With many small acts of love and large sacrifices, he modeled for his children a strong work ethic rarely missing a day of work over the years.

Maurice was a quiet, unassuming man who enjoyed the simple pleasures of life. He enjoyed bowling and cheering on his Packers, Badgers, and Brewers each season. He always held a special spot in his heart for the military and enjoyed planning trips that involved visiting many special monuments, war time museums, and Civil War battlefields. After his retirement from Johnson Controls, he and Esther celebrated by traveling around the country logging 8,000 miles in three weeks! Later in life, Maurice gave his life to The Lord, and enjoyed relaxing in his recliner to his favorite hymns or one of his hundreds of preaching tapes. He never missed starting his day with a daily Bible reading and praying after breakfast. Maurice had a personal relationship with his Savior and faithfully attended church services until COVID-19 struck. He then had to learn how to stream the service digitally from the comfort of his living room at the remarkable age of ninety! Described as a hard worker, honest, and faithful, Maurice was a wonderful person to know and to love. He was pridefully committed to God, his family, and his country. May his loved ones often reflect fondly on the wonderful collection of memories he leaves behind.

Maurice Charles Miller, of Racine, Wisconsin entered his rest on Monday, December 21, 2020 at the age of 91 years. He was the beloved husband of Esther L. (nee Lindahl) Miller for nearly seventy years. Cherished father of Diane (Gary) Bevers, Steven (Carla) Miller, Jeffrey (Wendy) Miller, Sherie (Dan) Post, Kimberly (Chris) Woychik, and Michelle (Tom) Roethenhoefer; dear brother of Donald (Irene) Miller. Further survived by 22 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren, 2 great-great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, other relatives and special friends. Preceded in death by his parents, Percy and Margaret Miller, brother, Milton Miller, sister-in-law, Ruby Miller and grandchildren Andrew and Matthew Woychik, Riley Weber and Anne Bevers. Visitation will be held on Monday, January 4, 2021 at Parkway Apostolic Church 10940 S. Nicholson Road, Oak Creek, WI 53154 from 5:30 PM until time of the funeral service at 7:00 PM.