Elaine Elizabeth (Audette) Miller passed peacefully in her home in Mora with family by her side on September 16, 2020, at the age of 89. Private family services will be held at St. Peter Catholic Cemetery in Gentilly, MN.
Elaine, born November 19,1930, was the last child of Paul and Delima (Huot) Audette. She grew up on her family farm in Gentilly, MN where she attended country school. She was baptized and confirmed at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Gentilly. Along with her parents and siblings, she attended Mass every Sunday and all Holy Days. At an early age, her parents taught her to pray the rosary daily and the importance of having a close relationship with our Lord. Starting in the ninth grade Elaine went to boarding school in Crookston. She attended Mount St. Benedict High School and graduated from the Mount in 1949.
Elaine married Raymond Paul Miller of Red Lake Falls, MN, on August 24, 1950 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Gentilly. Soon after the wedding the Millers, along with her sister, Myrtle and her husband John, moved to Long Beach, CA where the first of their ten children was born. It wasn’t long before the Millers moved back to Red Lake Falls to be with family. They made their home in various cities, including Crookston, Centerville, Anoka, Mora, Red Lake Falls, and back to Mora.
Elaine’s life was centered around her God and her family. As Albert Einstein said: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Elaine viewed and appreciated the miracles of each day from the tiniest chipmunk, a hummingbird moth, the smell of newly mown grass, to the greatest of miracles: children and family and memories. She made everyone who knew her feel special, which is why each one of her 31 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchild know that THEY were her favorite.
Elaine was a passionate game player spending many hours playing cards, Words With Friends, and most recently Ladder Ball – at 89 she was consistently the pro! She loved to cook, do crafts, make quilts for her great grandchildren, garden, and talk about and write family history, including “Delima Rose,” the book she wrote about her mother. Music provided her joy her whole life. Her faith was her most enduring legacy, however. She was the greatest of prayer warriors, spending at least half of her day in prayer, remembering each family member by name.
Although she loved this world, Elaine was anxious to be reunited with her husband, her dear parents, and her brothers and sisters. She was restless in this world fulfilling the great quote by St. Augustine: “Thou has made us for thyself O Lord and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
Elaine is survived by her children Barbara (Roger) Crawford, Mora, MN; Gordon (Betty) Miller, Anoka, MN; Tom (Kathy) Miller, Roseville, MN; Pam Sommer (Darrell Atnip), San Antonio, TX; Bob (Cindy) Miller, Zimmerman, MN; Greg (Diane) Miller, Maple Grove, MN; Laurie Perrin, New Hope, MN; Gerry (Bridget) Miller, Ramsey, MN; Mary Breault, Houston, MN; Joe (Beth) Miller, Ramsey, MN; and 78 grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren.
Memorials preferred to the Mora Crisis Pregnancy Center in Mora, MN, to the donor’s own local pregnancy center, or local food shelf – these were charities Elaine supported and believed in.
