Elsie Miller

Elsie P. Miller, age 98 of Moorhead, formerly of Sauk Centre and Crosslake, Minnesota died Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at Villa Maria Nursing Home in Fargo, North Dakota.

Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 17 at Zion Lutheran Church in Sauk Centre. Rev. Marty Porter will officiate with interment following in Greenwood Cemetery.

Friends may call at the church one hour prior to the service.

Elsie was born on February 7, 1910 in a sod house that her parents, Gotleib and Matilda (Sandau) Pastian built near New Leipzig, North Dakota. Her parents homesteaded there and her father raised horses for the U.S. Cavalry. In 1919 the family moved to Sauk Centre and began farming. There Elsie met Frank Miller and on June 28, 1932 they were marriedin Sauk Centre. Frank was a heavy equipment operator on road construction and the couple moved from project to project. In 1938 their son was born and they settled in Sauk Centre, where they ran the Truck Line Café until Frank contracted rheumatic fever and had to quit the business. After a couple of years, Frank regained his health and went back to construction. In 1945 they moved to North Dakota where Frank worked on the Garrison Dam for 11 years and Elsie worked at a clothing store most of the time. In 1956 they moved to Cross Lake, Minnesota, where they purchased and operated a Texaco filling station until 1973 when Frank retired. In 1976, Frank passed away and Elsie continued to live at Crosslake until 2002 when at the age of 92, she fell and broke her hip. Since that time she had lived with her son in Moorhead, Minnesota.Throughout her life Elsie was always active in the church serving at one time or another in every position, except Pastor. At the Garrison Dam, she was a key person in starting a church for the construction workers in the small boomtown of Big Bend. At the age of 90 she was still in the choir in Crosslake, Minnesota.

Elsie is survived by her son, Warren (Diane) Miller of Moorhead; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; brothers, Rudolph Pastian of Sauk Centre, Melvin (Doris) Pastian of Hanford, California, Arthur Pastian of Crane, Missouri; sisters, Evelyn Kennedy of Sauk Centre, Esther Fredrickson of Chula Vista, California.

Elsie was preceded in death by her husband, Frank on February 11, 1976; her parents; and four brothers, Otto, Herbert, Leo, and Paul.

Serving as casket bearers will be Scott Miller, Gary Miller, Michael Miller, Beverly Anderson, Donnie Kennedy and Steve Kennedy.