Michelle Miller's passing Brings out the best in Royal's citizens

ROYAL CITY – You’ll have to a go a long way to find a community as nice and as giving as Royal City. Fund-raisers for human needs are commonplace.

The latest one was nothing short of amazing.

Michelle Miller, a cancer victim who was the object of fund-raising efforts, died Thursday morning, Aug. 20. Within 24 hours, the community raised a reported $50,000 that will be dedicated to her two sons’ educations.

“Incredible. . . amazing,” was all Michelle’s widowed husband Dan Miller could say.

But he wasn’t sure what the figure was. He didn’t ask about it. He’d heard something was happending, and left things at that.

“It didn’t matter,” he said. “They could have raised $10, and she would have been excited.”

A lot of people felt they needed to do something when Michelle died. She was one of the community’s doers.

Michelle volunteered at the schools a lot. She restarted the youth soccer program, was a 4-H leader, was in PTO and she ran or walked in fund-raisers for others. She collected box tops and Campbell’s labels.

In addition to all of that, Dan said she kept up their home while helping in their hay farming operation.

“The only thing she never did was run the swather,” he said.

Michelle was diagnosed around Thanksgiving time in 2013. She thought she had a cold or the flu. It was colon cancer.

After 12 chemotherapy treatments from January-June in 2014, the doctor said her scan came back clean. The Millers were hopeful. But all hope was eventually dashed.

Dan could not have been prouder of his boys during this time. They were troopers, vacuuming, doing laundry and even cooking some with Michelle’s supervision.

The boys, 13-year-old Ty and 12-year-old Colin were at the Grant County Fair when their mother died. Dan was at home looking after her.

The boys were at the fair all week. Members of 4-H, they were showing their pigs. Alisha Eilers looked after them.

4-H animals are auctioned off for prices that can be as much as 10 times over market value. Knowing the money goes to college funds, bidders pour money into the children’s futures.

When Michelle died, the word spread like wildfire through the nearly magical communcation devices of the modern age.

“We got a text,” Sam Worsham said.

Sam’s wife Shelli was at the fair with their son, J.C., who was showing sheep. By the next morning, Shelli said, collections or pledges for this single bid had reached $35-40,000.

“When the people at the auction realized what was happening, they started donating money,” she said.

What the final amount was, nobody seems to know. Sam believes nobody will know until the boys receive their check in November.

Dan said he heard there were more than 100 donors. One person told him: “This is out of respect for Michelle, not out of pity for the kids.”

There was a memorial service for Michelle last Saturday at the Royal Intermediate School. Paul Kimmel read from an obituary prepared by Dan and Alisha Eilers. There was a standard obituary in last week’s The Royal Register.

“Michelle went to run her forever marathon with Jesus on August 20, 2015,” Kimmel said.

Michelle was born on Jan. 4, 1972 in Kingman, Ariz. She lived in Arizona until moving to Lubbock, Texas. Before her freshman year, Michelle and her family moved to Lake Stevens to be closer to family.

Michelle graduated from WSU in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. In 1996 she met Dan Miller who was finishing up his degree.

Dan and Michelle wed on September 9, 2000 in a beautiful farm wedding. Michelle was a patient bride. She continually reminded Dan that they dated three and a half years before he proposed and almost another year before they were married.

While raising her kids, Michelle became a runner. She participated in multiple 5Ks, 10Ks, 3 half-marathons and the crown jewel. . . a full marathon. . . 26.2 miles. Dan and the boys were there supporting her every step of the way.

Michelle endured 24 rounds of chemo and never slowed down, not once, Dan wrote. During the past year throughout chemo treatments, two family vacations were taken to Hawaii and Washington, D.C.

“She would not allow a little chemo to stand in the way of being with her family to make memories,” Kimmel said. “No matter how she was feeling, she didn’t want to miss any of her kids’ events, she was passionate about being involved in every part of their lives.”

Michelle face timed with her boys while they were at the fair and saw them show their pigs for market the day before she passed away.

She undoubtedly would be pleased to know her boys have a good start on college because of her community.