Sis. Rose. Rosie. Mom. Gramma. Great-Gramma, devout Christian witness and loyal friend. Rosemarie Kreitel Miller. She passed away at the age of 93 on Tuesday afternoon, September 27, 2022, in the Lippold Hospice Suite of the Monument Hospital in Sturgis, SD, with family surrounding her.

A Funeral to celebrate Rose’s life will be held on Sunday, October 16, at 2:30 p.m. at the Feigum Funeral Home on West Pleasant Avenue in Pierre, SD with a time of visitation following.  A Graveside service is planned for Monday, October 17, at 9:30 a.m. at Riverside Cemetery in Pierre, SD.  Services will be broadcast at links below:

Click HERE to watch Rose’s Celebration of Life

Click HERE to watch Rose’s Graveside Service

The family requests no flowers, however plants and trees would be most loved. Donations for a memorium would be appreciated. For the comfort of guests with allergies, asthma and other environmental illnesses, kindly refrain from using perfumes and colognes. Thank you.

Daniel Gene Miller will be the pall bearer, carrying a mini-coffin with Rose’s cremains, which will be buried on top of her husband’s grave. Donald Dean Miller and Ivan Iverson will be honorary pall bearers along with Rose’s 7 nephews.

The family requests no flowers, however plants and trees would be most loved. Donations for a memorium would be appreciated. For the comfort of guests with allergies, asthma and other environmental illnesses, kindly refrain from using perfumes and colognes. Thank you.

With the aid of a mid-wife, Rose was born on March 22, 1929, on the family ranch in the Chalk Buttes area south of Ekalaka, MT, to George Paul Kreitel and Gladys Martha (Pestka) Kreitel. Rose always claimed that one of her hips was pulled out of place during the birth process making one leg shorter than the other; a chiropractor put her back together in Helena, MT.  Born the 5th child out of 10, Rose was a very tiny baby. The entire extended Kreitel family called her “Little Sis” since she was so small. It was eventually abbreviated to just “Sis” and she was known by that all the rest of her life by the Kreitels. She remained petite throughout her life.

Rose’s siblings were Glendon Arthur (Lucille, both deceased) Kreitel; Margaret Louise Kreitel (John William, both deceased) Sherman; George Joseph ”Buds” (deceased) Kreitel; Veronica Katherine Kreitel (1st-Edward, deceased) Sikorski and (2nd-Roy Duane, both deceased) Richards; Earl Clemens (Janice Marie Speicer) (Earl, deceased) Kreitel; Evelyn Frances (deceased at less than 1 month old of blood poisoning) Kreitel; Edward Charles (Nora Lou Ryan, both deceased) Kreitel; Mary Lucille Kreitel (Thomas Alvin) McCamish; and Gilbert Lee (Verna Irene Chesmore) (Gib, deceased) Kreitel.

Rose told tales of trekking through deep snow to attend a rural one-room school in her early elementary years; she had to have her older brother break a path through for her. One year they had a teacher who was afraid to stay home alone, so the older three Kreitel girls took turns spending a week at a time with her. The girls were responsible for carrying around the lamp in case the teacher fainted, so it wouldn’t be dropped and broken. The teacher spotted a mouse one night, and, being petrified of rodents, jumped up onto the bed screaming, conked her head on the brass bed frame, and knocked herself out. Rose was scared that her teacher was dead, and was begging the woman to wake up, shaking her hand; she finally did awaken, to her immense relief.

Eventually the family moved to Miles City, SD, to enable confirming the children in the Catholic faith while their father remained to operate the family ranch during their absence. Upon returning to Ekalaka years later they built a home in town where her mother and siblings lived during the school years, while moving back out onto the ranch during the summers, helping their father with all the chores and ranching. It was primarily a cattle operation, where they also raised various grains and hay as well.

While attending the Catholic school in Miles City, Rose watched some older big bullies swipe her younger brother’s winter cap. He tried to get it back, but the boys just kept tossing the cap around in a circle playing keep-away. Rose decided that wasn’t right, and ran towards one of the boys who held the cap. He grinned and tossed it to the next boy. But to his surprise Rose didn’t follow the cap. She tackled the larger boy and began beating on him. Then she got up and headed for the next boy. He dropped the cap and ran like a coward, along with the other boys. Bullies never won around Rose!

One of Rose’s earlier chores was gathering eggs. She could not see into the top boxes, and usually stretched up over the edge to feel for the eggs. Instead of doing that one day, her intuition told her to look into the box first—inside was a rattlesnake! She managed to use a stick to get it out and kill it. She grew quite adept at killing rattlers.

Rose told of the year they acquired a kid goat. That goat loved to climb a small hill, wait until the chickens were out roaming about feeding, and it would then dash down the incline, scaring and scattering all the hens! It would go around and back up the hill, wait for the chickens to calm down, and repeat the clucking fun all over and over again.

Petite Rose was carrying full buckets of milk at the age of 12, and because she was so small, she had to hold them up so as not to let them drag on the ground. She grew very strong for her size. Because she was so strong, she ended up bowling with a size 16-pound bowling ball for many years as an adult in Helena, which not many men could handle! She did finally downsize to a 14 pounder in her later years.

One day, Rose was assigned to watch over her younger 3-year-old sister Mary when neighbors came by with their large dog. No one could approach him, and it would growl at everyone. Rose wasn’t paying close attention like she should, when she suddenly noticed her sister sitting on the dog’s back! Mary was yanking on the dog’s ears and saying, ”chisk-chisk, horsey!” Rose was terrified and tried to get her sister away, but the dog growled ferociously at her. She had to run for help from their visitors to “rescue” Mary.

In her teens, one of Rose’s responsibilities was to ride horseback for miles to get the mail or to check up on the cattle. One time a rattlesnake startled her horse. She got off and began whipping the snake with a rein. She killed it and collected its rattles. She had quite a few rattles, making necklaces with them. She also did the same with a collection of small snail shells and empty bullet shells. She was quite creative.

She worked part-time for the county welfare office while attending high school in Ekalaka. After graduating with honors, she moved to Helena, able to transfer to work in the capitol building into a related agency. She was a secretary that used shorthand. One year, classifications and wages were part of a study that she was asked to participate in, helping to establish fair wages for the various levels of clerks, stenographers and secretaries.

Rose was a natural protector of fellow workers. She went on coffee breaks in a basement break room. One gentleman would come in and open a high window in the middle of winter, freezing all the other coffee drinkers. Rose noticed all the shivering workers and closed the window. The gentleman then went and re-opened it. Rose closed the window and kept ahold of the window closing pry bar so it could not be opened again. “I didn’t give you permission to close that window,“ he growled. “I didn’t give you permission to open it,” was her tart reply! He respected her bravado, and they became good friends after that.

She enjoyed pulling practical jokes on others. One April Fool’s day, she prepped a pack of gum to trap a fellow worker who always was taking snacks off her desk. She cut pieces of thin cardboard and seasoned them with sweetener, replacing them for the pieces of wrapped gum. Rose had the open pack on the desk, less one piece of gum that she was chewing on. The fellow employee came dashing in and snatched a piece of “gum.” He started chewing it fervently, then slowly stopped, looking at Rose in shock. She grinned at him and said “April Fool’s!”

Being in the “big” city, Rose decided to try out the sport of bowling. She loved it, ending up with a very heavy 16-pound bowling ball because she was such a strong thrower; she threw a wicked hook. She met her future husband, Laurence Eugene “Gene” Miller, in the bowling alley. They bowled on leagues five nights a week, Gene keeping score for Rose when she bowled, and Rose keeping score when he bowled. They also bowled on Saturdays, and weekends away for out-of-town tournaments.

Gene and Rose were married on September 26, 1953, in front of a Justice of Peace with Gene’s sister Laurene Holland and brother-in-law Walter Holland as witnesses. They spent their honeymoon in San Francisco. Rose stated she didn’t want to spend any of her money on a wedding, and really enjoyed their California trip, using her postal savings from work to travel.

Their first child arrived a little after a year of marriage. Patricia Lee, Deanne Marie, twins Donald Dean and Daniel Gene, and Robert Dale all arrived healthy and happy within a few close years. After her first child cane, Rose quit work to stay home to raise her family. When she was pregnant, she carried a lot of water, and people were always trying to help her up and down stairs when she was only about 6 months along, thinking she was ready to pop! Rose had to wear suspenders to help support 12 pounds of twins when she was carrying them. Her smallest twin was larger than the mother’s baby sharing her hospital room.

Even after childbirth, she still bowled on an afternoon league or two. Their five young children spent many a day growing up in the bowling alley daycare! Once the kids were older, Rose and Gene taught them how to bowl. Her daughter Deanne has passed the bowling tradition down to her son Michael and daughter Shauna (who has bowled a 300!) and to her grand-children as well.

Rose and Gene also enjoyed playing card games with friends every Friday or Saturday night in Helena. They took turns hosting card night at their home with several other couples. Their children loved those nights, as they got to stay up a little later, eat snacks, and play cards also.

Family life changed drastically when Gene was caught in a fire on the job as a plumber on October 6, 1966. He received 2nd and 3rd degree burns over half of his body. He spent the first 6 months in the hospital before he could come home for a short visit. Years of operations and therapy finally led to healing. Along with the lengthy time spent with her husband in the hospital, Rose ended up going back to work for a news station to pay bills while her husband was recuperating. Gene’s boss with Lorenz Plumbing continuously brought over boxes of food for the family which greatly helped during such a trying time. For several years Rose had to leave her eldest daughter, starting only in 6th grade, in charge of preparing meals and disciplining younger siblings due to her busy schedule.

Gene eventually attended college in Rapid City, SD, to become a computer programmer, funded by Montana’s Department of Vocational Rehab. He found employment at the Department of Transportation in Pierre following graduation. The family was then moved to South Dakota in 1971, where all 5 children attended and eventually graduated from the Pierre school system.

After the children were out of school, Rose opened a health food store in downtown Pierre called Miller’s Nutrition Haven. She enjoyed promoting one of her favorite subjects, health issues, and produced many short educational radio ads for many years until she retired from her entrepreneurial enterprise.

Rose accepted an offer to study the Bible from one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Helena in the 1960’s. Her goal was two-fold: to actually get the full Bible read, and to show that Witness “what was what!” Well, according to Rose, she learned much more than she expected from the Bible, changing her tune and many of her views. She got baptized in water to symbolize her dedication to Jehovah God.

Her Christian ministry was very important to her. She strongly believed in the promises made in the Bible by Jehovah God regarding enthroning his son Jesus Christ as King in the heavens, and regarding the hope of a resurrection to everlasting life on a paradise earth once all the wicked earthly governments are replaced by God’s Kingdom. She looked forward to that future resurrection to reunite with her deceased youngest son Robert, and her deceased husband Gene.

She had planned to live a long life with her husband, but he died when he was only 71 years old in November 1997. She told her eldest daughter she was angry with Gene for deserting her so early!

Rose moved to Craig, CO, in 2008 to live with her eldest daughter, and while there, got her two hips replaced. When her daughter moved back to South Dakota, Rose moved with her, first to live near Newell, SD, then in Vale, SD. After about 14 years, she needed to replace the replacement hips, plus replace her right knee. During those years, she enjoyed relative good health, reading her Bible and study aids, drinking coffee and working crosswords, and watching old re-runs of Perry Mason, Matlock and Mannix.

About 2 months prior to her passing Rose told her daughter she had lost all of her strength and felt weak as a kitten. She began to deteriorate, being hospitalized several times for various system failures, until her death at the end of September. She always wanted to outlive her mother, who died at age 90; in fact, Rose outlived all of her family members except her youngest sister!

Rose is survived by 5 of her children and step-children: Patricia Lee Miller, Vale, SD; Deanne Marie Miller Rydland, Pierre, SD; Donald Dean (Tracy Rose Ekstrom) Miller, Vale, SD; Daniel Gene Miller, Fremont, NB; and step-daughter Pamela Alyce Miller (Kenneth Charles) Tokach, Mandan, ND.

She is also survived by 12 grandchildren: Alyce Marie Tokach (Gregory John) Majszak; Elizabeth Anne “Lizzy” Tokach (Johnny Michael) Duran; Charles Clifford Tokach; Kandice Michelle Kizziar Fouberg (David Hughes Jr.) Lloyd; April Marie Nelson (Frank) Vaughan; Austin Lee (Stefanie Lee) Nelson; Adam Will (Diana) Nelson; Shauna Marie Cunningham (Brian Keith) Mills; Michael Alan (Kallee Rae Hewlett) Rydland; Rae Lynn Miller Moe; Elizabeth Rebekka “Beth” Miller Shisler; and Ivan Iverson.

Rose has 15 great-grandchildren: Christian Kennedy Majszak; Jonathan Kendrick Majszak; Jasmine Rose Duran; Trinity Nicole Duran; Timothy James Duran; Janis Lyn Patterson; James Joshua Fouberg; Matthew Jon Fouberg; Lydia Grace Nelson Vaughan; Braedon James Cunningham; Erica Michelle Cunningham; Landen Michael Rydland; Alexa Hope Rydland; Logan Andrew Moe; and Zariah Isabel Shisler Sigler.  She is survived by one sister: Mary Louise Kreitel (Thomas Alvin) McCamish; and two sisters-in-law: Janice (Earl Clemens deceased) Kreitel; and Verna Irene Chesmore (Gilbert Lee deceased) Kreitel.

Seven nephews survive Rose: Gary John (Denise Featherstone) Sherman; Mark Lee Sherman; Peter Edwin Sikorski; Leslie Earl (Karen Markuson) Kreitel; John Edward Kreitel; Curtis Eugene (Maureen Anna Carroll) McCamish; and Dale Eugene (Tracy Schiermeister) Kreitel, who are all honorary pall-bearers.  Rose is survived by 12 nieces: Constance Marie “Connie” Sherman (James Keith) Cope; Theresa Kay Sherman (Timothy Kenneth, deceased) Wilcox; Deborah Ann “Debbie” Sherman (Steve Kiyoshi) Itoh; Colette Renae Sherman (Ronald) Estes; Susan Kristine “Susie” Sherman Potter; Tamara Eileen “Tammy” Sherman (George) Dial; Cynthia Marie Sikorski; Rhonda Louise Kreitel (John Donald) Michalek; Evelyn Marie Kreitel (John) Strand; Marian Marie Kreitel; Wanda Lorene McCamish McInerney; and Karen Marie Kreitel (Barry Raymond) Cossette.

Rose was preceded in death by her parents; by one baby nephew Michael Zane Kreitel; by all 5 of her brothers; by 4 of her sisters; by her son Robert; by her husband Gene; by her step-son Samuel Alan Miller; by two sisters-in-law; by three brothers-in-law; and one nephew-in-law.

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