Cordell passed away peacefully at home under hospice care with family by his side in Dell Rapids, SD.
Visitation with family will be on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, from 5-7 with a prayer service to follow at Kahler-Brende Funeral Home, Dell Rapids, SD.
Funeral service will be on Saturday, September 30, 2023, at 10:30 am at St Paul’s Lutheran Church with Inurnment at Garrison City Cemetery, Garrison, North Dakota.
He was born in Garrison, North Dakota to Ralph and Rachel (Pederson) Miller. He was raised on the family farm west of Garrison and graduated from Garrison High School in 1959.
After high school he worked on the family farm and helped on neighbors farms as well. He worked with a construction company laying pipeline, and drove bus for the Garrison school district. He later moved to Parshall and worked at the Ford Garage and after that as a janitor for the Parshall High School. He then was offered a position at Reservation Telephone Company on the plow crew, where he worked for the next 25 years before retiring in 2001 and moving to Minot, North Dakota. He and Donna then moved to Dell Rapids, SD to be closer to family, and have been there for the last 18 years.
After his retirement he kept busy with building cars, his pride and joy being a 1923 Ford T-Bucket! Riding his Harley and working in his woodshop. Many have been blessed with one of Cordell’s airplanes he built. He loved to build things for the grandkids from trinket boxes, toy cars, toolboxes, among many other items, of course anyone that got one of Cordell’s creations already knew it would last forever, he did nothing half way when it came to building.
He married Joanne Pechacek in 1963 and they had one daughter, later they divorced and in 1982 he married Donna Bluhm and became an important part of her five children’s lives.
Happy to have shared his life with him are his Wife of 41 years, Donna (Simons) Miller, Dell Rapids; children, Jeanette (Jeff) Defoe, Mandan, ND, Rick (Carmen) Grimm, Max, ND, Cheryl Bluhm, Mesa, AZ, Darrell Bluhm, Fernley, NV, Shellie (Kevin Anderson) Bluhm, Dell Rapids, SD; grandchildren, Carli (Adam) Lech, Bismarck, ND , Darbi Defoe, Mandan, ND, Amanda (Jesse McLain) Grimm, Bismarck, ND, Kayla Rustad, Garrison, ND, Kayla, Garrett, and Hayden Bluhm, Fernley NV, Caleb (Gracie Snyder) Yetter Nashville TN, and Dylan Yetter, Hartford, SD; great-grandchildren, Thia Lech, Harvey Bluhm, Emmitt and Dallas Rustad; brother, Marlowe (Jeanne) Miller, Zimmerman, MN; and niece, nephews and numerous cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Ralph and Rachel Miller; step-son, Duane Grimm; and numerous aunts and uncles.
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