Carol Ann Miller 1942-2023

Carol Ann Miller, 81, of Seeley Lake, passed away peacefully in the comfort of her own home surrounded by her loving family on Sunday, June 4, 2023, after a prolonged battle with chronic kidney disease.

She was born on March 8, 1942, to her parents, Van and Marie (Arvidson) Price of Ronan, Montana. As a young girl she enjoyed playing outside with friends and doing tomboy things like baseball and long jump competitions. She was not afraid to get dirty and would often play inside the tire stacks at her parents' gas station or out in the family garden. Carol attended Ronan High School where she met and later married her lifelong companion, Jerald Wayne Miller, on June 30, 1962. The couple lived all of their married life in Seeley Lake, where Carol worked in the Forest Service office, was a clerk for the Water District, and then spent a good number of years at Pyramid Mountain Lumber as a bookkeeper. Later on she enjoyed a number of jobs as a secretary for a school, a Missoula radio station, and the Seeley Swan Pathfinder.

Carol found great joy in making her home beautiful and also decorating for many social events. She was always active in her community where she enjoyed playing pinochle with friends, Red Hat Ladies excursions, and so much more! She was most happy supporting her kids (and later grandkids) at all of their sporting and other school adventures. She wanted to be there for her family's biggest and best life achievements - graduations, new jobs, new homes, new babies, senior recitals, big games - and all those special moments in between. In later years, she enjoyed being involved with the local Senior Center where she especially liked playing her multiple Bingo cards to win the "big bucks" or dressing up to win a costume contest.

Carol often sent cards and gave thoughtful gifts to encourage others and let them know just how special they were to her. Some of her last words she wished to send out were these: "Tell my friends I love them all!" Wherever her kids were, Mom's cards and gifts would make their way to them. She always believed in her children and wanted them to know that they could do great things. "Hold a good thought...you can't solve a thing for worry" were the empowering words she would so often send out to them.

Carol loved beautiful things and good friends, flowers, birds, picnics, a good yard sale, shopping, quilting with friends, going out to eat, picking huckleberries, and sending her kids on wild lilac hunts down alleys and across town - wherever the perfect deep purple, French lilacs might be growing. She was always ready to travel anywhere friends and family might want to go. She especially enjoyed Hawaii, Alaska, Yankee games in New York, winters in Arizona, and the amazing flowers of Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. She always said that her two favorite words were "Shall we?" and "Let's!"

She was preceded in death by her parents Van and Marie and her only sister, Betty (Price) Mood. She is survived by her husband, Jerry Miller, and her three children: Roger Miller of Missoula; Suzie (Dan Smith) of Aplington, Iowa; and Nick Miller of Anchorage, Alaska. She found great joy in her grandchildren: Shelby (Gabriel Mata) of Garden Grove, California; Allen (Rebecca Smith) of Waterloo, Iowa; Andy Smith of Kalispell, Montana; Price (Keli Miller) of Kalispell, Montana; Daye Miller of Billings, Montana; Matthew Miller, serving in the US Navy; and her two great grandchildren Riggs and Tripp Miller (sons of Price and Keli Miller).

She requested that she be cremated, and the family will honor that wish.

A memorial service will take place on Friday, July 7th, 3:00PM at Faith Chapel in Seeley Lake. Her final resting place will be at the Seeley Lake Cemetery near Salmon Lake.