Marguerite Miller Obituary
Ever generous, kind, and loyal to family, friends, and strangers who would soon be her friends, Marguerite Miller, 69, passed away on Friday, April 1, in Grand Junction. Born in Leadville and raised in Red Cliff, she was the youngest child of Teresita (Medina) and Vicente Valencia.
Marguerite met Steven Leroy Miller at a dance in Red Cliff in 1967, and they were married in 1970. They raised their family in Edwards on a lovely property next to the Eagle River. To the east they watched the sun rise over Game Creek Bowl; to the west they watched it go down over Castle Peak. In 1998 they moved to downtown Glenwood Springs, where they lived for 23 years. Marguerite loved buzzing around town on her Yamaha scooter, and she made countless friends up and down the Roaring Fork Valley. But craving shorter, easier winters the couple moved to Grand Junction last spring just days before Marguerite was diagnosed with a different kind of cancer than the one that had already hounded her for almost two decades.
Marguerite was forever urging her children to get the education she never got. Over the years, she did a few stints in the central kitchen for Vail Associates. In between baking the giant cookies you'd see at places like Lionshead and Spruce Saddle, she liked to sneak off now and then for a game of Ms. Pac-Man. She was, however, a famously hard worker. Part of the inaugural team at the Hyatt in Beaver Creek, as a sous chef she was twice named runner-up for Employee of the Year. Though usually busy in the kitchen, she was recognizable and well-regarded throughout the organization.
Marguerite loved the action. Nothing serious. Low stakes stuff mostly. Super Bowl pools, scratch cards, that sort of thing. A lot of bingo! At church, at the Eagles' Club, the Moose, the Elks, you name it. Until pinche Covid took her beloved older sister Viola in late 2020, the two of them would go wherever there was a game.
Marguerite was a devout Catholic. She adored Father Bert at St. Stephen's in Glenwood, and she made regular pilgrimages to the Santuario in Chimayo.
Anyone who knew Marguerite knew that she also loved to shop. For herself, sure, but mostly for gifts to give to others.
Marguerite was preceded in death by her brothers Vincent Jr., Rudy, and Leroy; and her sisters Viola and Edna.
Marguerite is survived by her husband Steve of Grand Junction; her son Marvin (Valerie) of Erie; her son Steven (Elaine) of Milwaukee, WI; her daughter Bianca (Alex) of Thornton; her grandchildren Sasha, Bode, Kai, and Kendall; her sister Marcella of Colorado Springs; and her sister Eva of Denver; as well as numerous loving cousins, in-laws, nieces, and nephews all around Colorado, New Mexico, and beyond.
Memorial services will be held at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Glenwood Springs (1885 Blake Ave) on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at 10 a.m. A reception will immediately follow at 11:00 a.m. If you would like to make a memorial donation in her honor, the family is asking that you donate to the Grand Valley Oncology Patient Care Program.
