January 30, 1959 - December 24, 2020
Stephen Craig Miller
Age 61, of Welch, formerly of Minnetonka. Steve was adopted by Verner and Ordella Miller at the age of one. He grew up in the home his father built in Richfield, MN. He graduated from Richfield High School in ‘77. Early on, Steve showed an intense curiosity and a drive to figure out how things work. Steve graduated from the small engine course at Hennepin Vo-Tech in ‘78. He then went on to graduate with a NEI Electronic Technician associate degree in ‘82. Steve had common sense and a gift for figuring out what was wrong with all things mechanical and electrical. As a result, Steve could fix just about anything and did very well in his work career. Steve freely shared his repair skills with family, friends, friends of friends, and neighbors. It also came in handy since he enjoyed a lot of motorized activities- motorcycling, racing motorcycles, dirt biking, water-skiing, and snowmobiling. These hobbies have led to multiple lifelong friendships that Steve cherished. Steve loved music and could play several instruments including the violin, piano and his favorite the electric guitar. Steve played in many bands over the years and made many wonderful friends. Steve received so much joy from playing with a group of musicians. Steve’s greatest passion was his family. Steve frequently stated that his idea of an absolutely perfect day was spending it with his family. Steve went to great lengths to spend time with his kids. Becoming a Scout Leader, camping, fixing boats for water sports, and putting together dirt bikes and snowmobiles so the kids would want to spend time with him. Steve frequently said that Susan was the love of his life. Steve and Sue enjoyed working together (often on their home), and taking long trips on their motorcycles (or snowmobiles), exploring winding roads or trails, and seeing new sights. Life has its ups and downs. Steve chose to face life with a smile, a joke or pun, and in friendship. Steve’s faith in God was his foundation, his hope, and his moral compass. The light he brought into the world will be greatly missed by all of the people that had the honor of knowing him.
Survived by loving wife, Susan Miller; sons, Aaron Miller and Ethan Miller; daughter, Alyssa Miller (Trevor Pierce); sister, Lori Lemke; nephews, Noah Lemke and Joshuah Lemke; niece, Rebekah (Joshua) Jensen; great-nephews, Elijah Jensen and Everett Jensen; and many friends. Preceded in death by parents, Verner and Ordella Miller.
Celebration of Life will be held and live-streamed at 2:00 PM on Saturday (January 30) with visitation 1 hour prior at Grace Church, 9301 Eden Prairie Road in Eden Prairie.
Susan and family our heart aches for your loss. We have some great memories of Steve during our family reunions. May the Lord wrap his loving arms around you at this time. God bless!
Susan and family, my heart aches for you. Your faith will lift you up and may Steve’s memory be a blessing. All my love.
Jane
Sue, we are so very saddened to hear of your loss. We have great memories of motorcycle riding with you two. Steve was definitely “the bright light in the room” and he will be very missed. May God bless and keep you and your family, hold you close in His loving arms, and give you the peace, comfort and strength you need.
Sue and family: Our hearts are with you during this time!
Sue – Kamea and I are so sorry for your loss. Love to you and the kids. Please let us know if there is anything we can do.
Susan and family. Stephen and I were co-workers at Seagate. I am so saddened to learn of his passing and your loss.
Stephen was a wonderful person to work with. Always willing to share his knowledge and wisdom.
My sincere condolences to your family.
Just before departing Seagate, Steve spoke enthusiastically about fixing up the “new” house. We had a lot of enjoyable conversations about the work he planned to do himself, what tools he planned to buy, etc. Steve was an excellent engineer, helpful co-worker and person of integrity. And a shameless punster. The world is a poorer place without him. Please accept my sincere sorrow for your loss
I worked with Steve for a number of years and always enjoyed my interactions with him. He was upbeat and enthusiastic regardless of the situation – traits not so common these days. Steve and I also shared a passion for motorcycles and I’ll miss hearing his stories of adventure. I’m so sorry for your loss.
My Condolences to Sue and the kids and all. Steve was a very happy and fun person to have around the office. I’ve enjoyed learning from him and working with him. He is missed here as well.
My condolences to Sue and family. Steven was truly a wonderful person to work with, both as a supplier and as a coworker. He was very knowledgeable, kind, and always willing to help. We will miss him
Sue, we are so very saddened to hear of your loss. I first met Steve when he joined Seagate.
Steve was a member of the Seagate lunch posse which included an elite group of men over 60: Dale Erickson, Jeff Wiltz and me.
I really enjoyed having lunch with Steve and discussing topics like snowmobiling, automotive repair and maintenance, home improvement and politics. Steve was very knowledgeable in all these subjects and an exceptional handy man.
Steve’s recent projects included building the kitchen cabinets from scratch, pulling the engine from Ethan’s Subaru and repairing a blown head gasket, installing a boiler for the heating system in the basement and a new o-ring on his van’s oil pickup tube.
Steve was always willing to lend a hand. I recently rebuilt a Polaris XCSP 600 engine with Steve’s help. Steve provided me with guidance and specialty tools for the project. Steve was also getting his Yamaha snowmobile ready for the winter riding season and had just ordered a part to repair a coolant leak.
I was lucky to have known Steve for those brief few years and considered him a close friend. I will miss him.
I enjoyed to work with Steve at ST. He was a positive person to work with and always kind.
My condolences to his family.
My heartfelt condolences to Sue and the rest of Steve’s family. Having worked and lunched with Steve for many years, it is very hard to accept that his friendship and advice are there no longer. He was such a kind and decent person. He will be greatly missed.
My heartfelt condolences to Sue and all of Steve’s family. I worked with Steve for many years while he was at ST here in Minneapolis and was fortunate enough to hire him into my department at Seagate when he left them. Steve always had a great outlook; he was very positive and had a wicked sense of humor that he shared with us on a regular basis. I am very saddened to hear of his loss; overall he was a great person and I am proud to have known and worked with him for many years.
I am so sorry for your and your family’s loss. So sad and so sudden. Wishing you peace and comfort. My condolences.
I was so fortunate to have Steve join me at our STM Edina office in 2008. Over 12 years we became very close friends talking daily about business, our families, and his home or mechanical projects. Steve’s Engineering expertise, business insight, ethics, exceptional interpersonal skills plus great sense of humor were invaluably helpful to many years of STM’s success at Seagate. What I will cherish the most of our friendship is Steve’s kindness helping me and my family through family illnesses and loss of loved ones. He was always the first to provide me emotional support, wisdom, guidance and prayers. He was like a big Brother to me. Our prayers are with you all, God Bless.
Sue and Family,
Oh behalf of ST we offer our deepest condolences. We all were blessed to know Steve and his contagious spirit. It was obvious to all who knew Steve that he was great human being with strong core values, strong work ethic and a dedication to his family. We will miss you Steve but we will never forget you and you have left an imprint on all who knew you. We all look forward to the day that we see you again!
Matt Engelland & Your entire ST Family
Ciao Steve,
you were for me the kind giant, always happy and ready to give a hand. I was honored to have worked with you and met you personally. I hope now you can bring your joy and happiness wherever you are!
My condolences to his family.
I had the privilege to start to work with Steve more than 10 years ago and immediatly he becomes a friend more than a collegue because Steve was the kind of man that offer his freindship to the people he meet. Even if he was an hard worker he alwasys had the capacity to help the team tomaintain a peaceful atmosphere even in times of stress with his jokes and his lightheartedness. I am sure he already started to be a friend for all in the paradise … Our prayers for Steve and his family.
Its hard for me to believe your gone..We were family for 60 years, God Bless You,Love you
your sister,,,,
Susan and Family,
My deepest sympathies to you and your Family.
I had the honor to work with Steve at ST and his passion at work was incredible. Steve was a wonderful person.
My thoughts and prayers are with you in your time of grief.
Giorgio
I am so saddened to learn of the passing of Steve. I was on many motorcycle rides with Steve and
Sue and I always enjoyed their company. Steve was the funniest guy on these rides.
Sue and Family,
My heart goes out to you! Steve was an excellent friend, guitarist, and band mate. He taught me lots and was always the cool head in the band, not to mention the humor he saw in just about everything. He kept the gear running, and built much of his own. He was a guitarist’s guitarist, always great tone, really, a Les Paul with a Kahler? That’s as cool as it gets!
It was pleasure to know Steve. Someone who grew up near my childhood home. Though we were only three years apart, it won’t be until Steve was working with STM (and myself at Seagate) until I got to know him. Thank you for being my friend and someone who we spent time talking to over our many lunches. To the Miller family, I send you my heart felt sorrow in losing Steve so suddenly. God bless.
Steve was always a pleasure to rehearse and play with in our band, Shk~n~Awe. Quick with a joke and smile. He always stepped up to the plate to do whatever was needed for the group.
He will be missed…
I met Steve in the mid 80’s at FMC. Because of my interest in motorcycles, Steve invited me to a club race at BIR that he was participating in with his long time friend Gary. My life was changed forever. It was always a highlite to see Steve and the boys at Road America and we could reminisce about past adventures and inquire about new things in our lives.
Susan, Aaron, Ethan & Alyssa, I’m so very sorry for your loss. Know that fond memories will live on because of whom Steve was and the friendships & people that were important to him. A truly wonderful man.
My heartfelt condolences go out to Steve’s family…..I came to know Steve reasonable well through music, with our Shakopee “band”, SHK – N – Awe. Steve was such a joy to play with…he was always well rehearsed, and also had such a positive attitude. He was also so supportive of me, the lone string player (viola) in a fairly classic rock band. With Steve’s violin background, he was able to help me find ways to best fit my instrument and skill level into the overall group, and was super supportive. It is hard to believe we won’t play together again…I miss him.
Another condolence from the Seagate team.. i worked with Steve at Seagate and for years before when he was with ST. I always looked forward to the many conference calls Steve ran for us, since he kept them running smoothly and on course, even thru controversies. I learned alot about how to work with people from him and enjoyed his humor too. He was one of the ‘good guys’ and will be missed.
Dear Sue and family. My sincere condolences in this difficult time.
Steve was also a joy and pleasure to work with and share our Scoutmaster duties. Always ready to offer a helping hand or a gentle suggestion of advice. It was a pleasure to help mentor Aaron and Ethan in the troop. Sharing Steve’s love of music was always a bond we shared along with his clever sense of humor. He will be missed.
Whenever I spent time with Steve and Sue on a motorcycle ride, at a Westby dinner, and a blues concert the Famous Dave’s, he always had a smile and a laugh. I will miss that. Sue, you must have a heartful of those smiles and laughs. Draw on those memories for solace.
Dear Miller Family, I am so very sorry for your loss. I worked with Steve at Seagate. Steve was a kind, gentle man with great integrity. He made Seagate a better place to work! He will be sadly missed. May you have many wonderful memories of him!
Sue and Family,
What a wonderful service for Steve this afternoon. It so touched our hearts. The music and the words and stories from family and friends were very special. We feel blessed to have had Steve in our lives and to have shared a special weekend every year with you two (Bosco Bel/Westby rides) for over 30 years. Doug as well benefitted from Steve’s mechanical talents when he came to the house and helped Doug reassemble his ZX11 engine. He will be missed greatly.
Sue, I am sad to hear of Steve’s passing. His helpfulness and infectious smile will be missed.
Steve and Anne Engdahl
Sue, Aaron, and Ethan,
I am shocked to hear of Steve’s passing. He was a pillar of Troop 346, always helping at meetings, camp outs, and entertaining with his guitar. He was fun-loving, quick with humor, and a strong leader. I have many fond memories of all of you. I wish the best for you and you have my prayers.
I knew about his passing but just now have found this here. I am sorry I was unable to watch the service. I grew up 2 doors away along with his sister Lori. Steve ( as we called him) was a great guy with a very inquisitive mind on how things worked. He was often in his dads “shop” downstairs in their family basement. He liked to “argue” with Lori and her friends but never in a mean spirited way. Gone too soon. May he rest in peace with his Lord and my condolences to the family of their great loss.
Sue, hope you see this. Since you were here & was so good to see you. Have been wondering how you since surg. Don’t have your phone #!will you call me 952-474-8457, Cell 952 201-7292 or text.