Marvin Melvin Miller Jr., age 80, of Molson, died on May 24, 2021 at home. Our dad was an extremely hard-working man. He loved his family, and would do whatever he could to make them happy.

Marvin was born in Austin, Texas to his parents, Marvin Melvin Miller Sr. and Anne Mae Teague. The first years of his life were in a kind, and loving home. At the age of nine, he lost his daddy to a heart attack. The next few years were extremely difficult for he, his mom and his sisters with an abusive step dad. Around the age of thirteen he dropped out of school and set off on his own. He worked in different orange orchards in California, getting from place to place by jumping on boxcars. He was a hobo. He was lucky enough to find an older man to take him under his wing and look out for him. Frank was this man, he stayed with us for a while when I was a small child.

Our dad had a dream. His dream was to go to Alaska. Sadly, this dream never happened for him. He was on his way to Alaska, riding the boxcar again, when he ended up in Oroville.

Oroville is where he met our mom. Our mom had an old car, that had worn out shocks. The smallest bump would set that car a bouncing. Our dad saw this car around town, and had no idea who it belonged to. It always made him laugh when he saw it. Around May Day, 1965, he met our mom. She was under the worn-out car working on it, our dad had no idea she was a woman under there, with only her legs sticking out. He asked her if she needed any help, when she scooted out, it was love at first site. The next month, June 25, 1965, they were married.

Giving up working in the apple orchards, he started working with our mom's dad (Walter Cody) in the logging industry, along with some of our mom's cousins. This is how my sister, brother and I spent our first years. Living around chainsaws and skidders.

Around 1974 our dad met Jerry Dull, and started working for him in his orchard. We would spend the next 6-7 years living in a little house out past the airport.

One dream our parents had was to own their own property and build their own house. They were able to buy 5 acres up towards Molson, and started building their home. In 1980, the five of us moved up there. We lived in a two room building, with no running water and an outhouse. The house grew in size, and we finally got running water and an indoor bathroom! Dad was so proud of all that he accomplished.

He worked for Junior Eder, working in his orchards as well as on his ranch with cattle. He enjoyed this time, and made a very dear friend while there, Harvey Cline.

He loved old cars, and was able to acquire quite a few over the years. He restored a couple, a Comet convertible and a Packard. The Comet was used in the May Day parade a few times. He had others that he planned on restoring, though never had the time. He was also a member of the Molson Grange and Molson Fire Department.

In the late 80's, he saw another of his dreams come to fruition. He was able to buy his own apple orchard, the Preston orchard. Here he worked long hours and even with the hard work and apple market up and down. He was happy! It was one of the hardest things he ever had to do, when he had to sell part of this orchard and pull out the remaining trees, when the apple industry fell.

When our mom developed dementia, our dad was the one to care for her until the very end. It was him that fed her, bathed her and kept her clean. It was a lot for one man to bare, it was stressful, and at times he wanted to pull his hair out. He loved our mom more than anything, and said it was part of being married. When you marry someone, you sign up for the long haul. The ups and downs, the rich and poor, the happy and sad and the healthy and sick.

Together our parents formed a family. Three kids, 9+ grandkids and 15+ great grandkids some by blood, some by choice. Once you came into our family as a girlfriend or boyfriend you were stuck. You were part of the family for life, even if the relationships didn't work out. This was another dream of our dad's, to have a large family, and love them fiercely.

The past two years without our mom were incredibly sad and lonely for our dad. Covid-19 didn't help. He was diagnosed with cancer and wasn't wanting to do chemotherapy and be sick the last few months of his life. He settled on immunotherapy, this didn't work so well, the side effects were terrible. He stopped the treatment and just recently had a different one. He was starting to feel better, he was gaining weight, and he was looking forward to getting out in his yard, and his shop. He had an endless list of projects to take care of. He sounded better than he had in a very long time, things seemed to be looking up....

Melvin is survived by his son; Marvin Stuart (Jill) Miller, two daughters; Frances (Earl) Darrow and Edie (Warren) Harris, one sister; Carol McGehee, 10 grandchildren, and 17+ great grandchildren.

Melvin is preceded in death by his wife; Ginger Miller, parents; Marvin Melvin Miller Sr. and Annie Mae Miller, and three sisters.

Our dad will truly be missed. No matter what was going on, he always had the time to talk and offer advice. He loved his family with all of his heart and never gave up on any of us. Even when his heart was hurting, he openly gave his love.

A graveside service will be held at the Molson Cemetery on Friday, June 4, 2021 at 11:00 AM.