March 30, 1928 – March 2, 2023
Bonnie Rae Miller, 94, of Eagle Butte passed away Thursday, March 2, 2023 at Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre. To honor her expressed written and verbal instructions, there will not be a church service. Instead, the family of Bonnie Miller will host a celebration of her life on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at the Community Landmark Hall in Eagle Butte beginning at noon. Lunch will be served.
Bonnie Rae Wessels was born on March 30, 1928 in Hector, MN to George and Ellen (Cash) Wessels. Before Bonnie reached school age, Ellen moved her two small daughters to Eagle Butte where they lived in a tar paper shack near the railroad tracks.
Ellen secured a job managing the Eagle Butte Lodge rooming house, which she eventually went on to own. Bonnie lived at the Lodge through high school.
As a young child growing up in the era of the Great Depression, Bonnie was responsible for taking a bucket to the railroad tracks to collect coal that was dropped from the box cars for her mother to use for cooking and heating the home.
As a pre-teen Bonnie lived with her grandmother, Anna Wessels, for a time on a farm near Palmer, Iowa. There she discovered a love for horses, and it began a life-long bond with her extended family in Iowa.
She graduated from Eagle Butte High School in 1946 then went to Spearfish Normal School (now Black Hills State University) the following summer earning a teaching certificate.
Her first job was at LaPlant Day School.
She married August Albers in 1947 and to this union two sons were born, Terry (1948) and Rick (1950).
Bonnie taught at Hoxing School south of Eagle Butte in the mid-fifties, then worked at the Eagle Butte Post Office.
She married Frank Edward “Buck” Miller in 1957. Two daughters were added to the family, JoEllen (1958) and Lisa (1961).
The family lived in the country north of Mossman Church near Ridgeview until 1962 when they relocated to Eagle Butte.
Bonnie began working for the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School District as a library clerk in 1964. She continued her education while working full-time, receiving her Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Black Hills State University December 20, 1985.
Bonnie retired from the school district in 1995. She enjoyed retirement with Buck until his passing in 1996.
Needing to get out of the house, Bonnie started working full time in what started out as a part time position at the Eagle Butte News until 2013. In June of 2014, she worked for the City of Eagle Butte as a receptionist until her official retirement in December of 2015 at the age of 87.
She taught tap dancing but her favorite style of dance was two-stepping with Buck.
Bonnie leaves behind one son, Terry Albers of Martin; two daughters, JoEllen (Prune) Berndt of Eagle Butte and Lisa of Yankton; sisters, Georgia Chambers of Everett WA, Judy (Paul) Anderson of Leonard, ND, and Jane Syverson of West Fargo, ND; brother Greg (Diana) Wessels of Leonard, ND; brother-inlaw Howard Woodbury of Wahpeton, ND; two sisters-in-law Grace Mulloy of Orcutt, CA and Patricia Peterson of Pierre; 17 grandchildren, 39 greatgrandchildren, and 10 great-greatgrandchildren; and special friends who she referred to as her angels, Joy Fischer, Lorraine Keller, and Lynn LeCompte.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, one son, two sisters, one brother, and one grandson.