Harold A. Miller

Harold A. Miller, 87, Moorhead, MN, died on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, in his home under care of Hospice of the Red River Valley with his family at his side.Harold A. Miller was born on April 6, 1918, at Malcomb, MN, to Albert and Myrna Erickson Miller. He grew up and attended rural school near Grygla, MN. As a youth, he operated a gas station in Grygla, and then moved to Washington State and California before joining the U.S. Army. He served as Staff Sergeant in the Pacific theatre of WWII, from 1941 until 1945. Following his honorable discharge from the Army, he returned to Grygla and then moved to Minneapolis where he attended the Minneapolis school of Business. He went to work for Otter Tail Power as an business accountant, first in Fergus Falls, MN, and then in Jamestown, ND. Harold married Margaret Eileen Verbout on January 6, 1951, in Thief River Falls, MN, and they made their home in Jamestown, ND and was proud of their new house he built largely by himself with a little help from friends. They moved to their new house in Moorhead, MN, where Harold started Harold A. Miller Trucking, starting out with a milk can route hauling for Cass Clay Creamery and growing it to numerous bulk truck routes in MN and ND. He started over the road freight business hauling cartons to Montana. He also started and ran Moorhead Sandblast and Paint, doing work on everything from pontoons to water towers, along with starting and running Moorhead Welding doing many area interstate freeway overhead signs. He eventually sold other businesses to focus on growing his freight and bulk pneumatic business hauling throughout the Midwest and Southeast United States for many manufactures, including Crystal Sugar. Harold retired in 1988 and immensely enjoyed spending time at their Big Toad Lake home with his family and friends. His hobbies included hunting and fishing and snowmobiling and he was thrilled with water skiing up to age 72.Harold is survived by his wife, Margaret Eileen Miller, Moorhead, MN; two sons, Rod Sheila Miller, Eden Prairie, MN, and Ronald Christine Miller, Plymouth, MN; two daughters, Deborah Mark Anderson, Wadsworth, OH, and Pam Miller, Lake Oscar, near Alexandria, MN; eight grandchildren; two sisters, Dorothy Eide, Sioux Falls, SD, and Margaret Sommers, California. He was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Doug; and one sister, Helen.