RITA MILLER

RITA MILLER Rita Anne Miller (Barker) passed away on October 6, 2025 at Grace Memory Care in Boise. She was 93. Born in Cascade on May 29, 1932, to E.C. (Brod) Barker and Tilda Nortune Barker of Roseberry, Rita was the part of the third generation of Finnish settlers who came to Long Valley in 1905. She inherited her fair share of Finnish sisu. She and her brother Boyd grew up in Roseberry, then Donnelly. A rancher's daughter, Rita raised prize steers for the county and state fairs and drove a tractor to school, but had to walk a good distance to her piano lessons. Rita attended Donnelly-McCall High School and graduated in 1950. She participated in basketball, skiing and theatre, and went to the prom with Mack Miller. She went on to the University of Idaho in Moscow, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and graduated with a degree in music. In 1955, she took a trip to Europe, where she and a friend ditched their tour group in Florence to have their own adventures. Rita taught elementary school in Seattle, then returned to Donnelly to teach and first and second grade in 1957. Then, in June of 1958, she married Mack Miller at the Long Valley Finnish Church. According to rumor, they escaped their reception for a boat ride with Warren Brown on Payette Lake. They left McCall, living first in Lake City and Crested Butte, CO, while Mack pursued his skiing career. They moved on to Luck, Wisconsin in 1960, then Rumford, Maine, where they had two children, Ralph and Karla. Not long after, they returned to Long Valley and stayed. Rita was an avid bridge player, a wonderful cook and a fine pianist. She was a member of the Long Valley Finnish Ladies Aid, and while she attended church and sang in the choir, kept a quiet faith. She was a regular at the Heikilla's Saturday night sauna, and eventually talked Mack into building their own. Rita loved to walk, always at a brisk pace, difficult to match. No matter where she lived, she walked to the end of the road and back. She grew a beautiful garden, especially carrots, which she planted with cornmeal. She kept a clean house and always looked lovely, whether greeting a friend who stopped for coffee, eating breakfast at the Pancake House or going to dance club with Mack. She was a class act. Mack passed in 2020. With the help of her children, Rita remained at the Roseberry ranch in the valley she loved until poor health forced the move to The Cottages in McCall, then Boise. As Rita's life grew to a close, when she could no longer walk, no longer sing, she was still kind to everyone around her. She smiled until the end of her full and special life. Surviving Rita are nieces and nephews in Utah; her children, Ralph Miller (Leigh Bailey) and Karla Miller of McCall, and granddaughter, Terra Miller, attending the U of I in Moscow. A service will be held on November 8, 2025 at 2 p.m. at the Long Valley Finnish Church on Farm-to-Market Road. All are welcome. In memory of Rita, sing a song or take a brisk walk, no matter the weather. Better yet, do both.