DeWitt "Deke" Miller

DeWitt ‘Deke’ Miller beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend will be honored with a funeral service at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 25, 2016, at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, 1318 N. Circle Drive.

Deke was a born native of Colorado Springs. He remembered the time when cows would roam downtown and at eight years old was delivering milk from the back of a horse drawn cart. He was an usher at the Old Chief Theatre and unloaded freight at the Sante Fe Depot.

During the war (World War II) he entered the Navy out of high school and was assigned short patrol and finally Quartermaster.

After the war he returned to Colorado Springs and joined the city government digging ditches and watering the cemetery. He was assigned to handle equipment for a surveying crew and was inspired to get his surveying and then his engineering license putting in many hours at night and weekends. Eventually he was made City Engineer and then Director of Public Works. Deke worked for the city for 42 years.

In 1949 he married his soul mate Arline Miller. They were married for 57 years. She was his perfect match. Aline died in 2006 following a long painful illness that he nursed her through.

DeWitt received many honors including the Presidency of the American Public Works Association. He counted congressmen and senators as friends. A city building was named for him. He was also a board member of the city credit union. His volunteer and charitable endeavors include (but were not limited to): Cheyenne Village, MS Bike Runs, the Cancer Society, Easter Egg Hunts, Baseball for the Blind, food drives, highway cleanup, tree planting, Silver Key, and Christmas Stockings for needy children. Deke shied away from praise or rewards’ saying true charity is about the act not the glory.

Deke was on the board of Cheyenne Village and was also a past treasurer or his church, Mount Calvary Lutheran Church.

He was preceded in death by his wife Arline Miller and brother Jerry Miller. He is survived by his daughters Molly Dunn and Darcy Lee Marquis as well as his grandchildren Ashley Beth Dunn, Kimberly Beth Dunn, and David Allen Dunn. Deke’s surviving siblings are Glenna Anderson of Denver and Ray Miller of Spirit Lake.

He will be greatly missed.