Dustin Lee "Dusty" Miller

Dusty Miller, age 50 of Eveleth, died at Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth on September 29, 2025. A Memorial Mass will be held at 11:00 am on Friday, October 17th at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in North Branch with a visiting time 1 hour prior. There will also be a memorial visitation from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on Thursday, October 16th at Strike Life Tributes in Cambridge. Memorials are preferred to the family.

God blessed the Miller family with Dustin Lee Miller when he was born on January 28th, 1975, in Stillwater, MN. He was the first of 5 children born to Mike & Patty Miller and was born without any serious medical issues or disabilities. At the age of 2 months, a medical incident occurred which caused sufficient damage to his brain and resulted in his acquiring cerebral palsy with a seizure disorder. Even though he was trapped in his body, he could understand everything and had his own way of communicating with his family.
He started going to Gillette Children's Hospital at the age of 18 months for his treatment and continued to do so until the age of 21. During this time, he had over 20 major surgeries and was to the point of death several times. He was a fighter, and God knew that he was still needed on this earth, so he fought through these medical setbacks, always with a positive attitude! He inherited a love of the original Star Trek series from his uncle Jim Miller and started watching the reruns when he was 3 years old. It was his way of escaping the realities of his physical limitations and soar among the stars with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock!
Dusty lived at home with mom, dad and his siblings until he was almost 19 years old and was able to attend Pine City High school in the special ed. room. He made many friends and graduated from high school in 1993. Afterwards, numerous health problems arose, and it was getting harder to find proper nursing care to come into their home. That was when his county case worker introduced his family to the Lutheran Social Services group homes in the Virginia/Eveleth area. They were a Godsend! After touring the LSS facility in Virginia, his parents talked to Dusty about his need to move outside the home for his care. He laughed and was VERY excited! It was like he was happy to be going off to college!
He loved the staff and group home there, and while living in Virginia, he was also able to attend Virginia high school in their special ed. classes until he was 21. During this time, he was also able to live as "normally" as can be, by attending football games, dances, prom, graduating 2 more times, (a long story!), and the highlight of his life…the Star Trek convention in Minneapolis. His parents had purchased the Gold V.I.P. package for him to attend, and 2 of the LSS staff accompanied him to the Marriot hotel in Minneapolis, where he met William Shatner (Kirk) and Leonard Nimoy (Spock). He was in heaven meeting his heroes, and it was a time that he and his parents will never forget!
After a few years, the State of Minnesota started downsizing the larger group homes and LSS acquired three 4-bedroom homes; 2 in Eveleth and 1 in Virginia. Dusty was relocated to one of the Eveleth homes and was able to work at the East Range Developmental Achievement Center in Eveleth. While there, he worked in the Loom Room, where they used old rags to make rugs and in the Fire Starter Room, where he helped make fire starters for campfires out of old pull-tabs. He loved going to work and they loved having him there! Even though he was far away from his family, he was still able to travel down from Eveleth with staff to attend some major family events, and his family went to visit him as much as they could, especially when his nephews were playing hockey near him and he could go watch.
He continued to have some major health issues off and on throughout the years, but that never kept him down. His positive attitude was always there. Dusty suffered a hemorrhagic stroke which caused a major brain bleed in the early morning hours of September 27th and was transported to Essentia/St. Mary's hospital in Duluth, where he was placed on life support. He passed away very peacefully on the evening of September 29, 2025 surrounded by his loving family and is now free to fly among the stars. He was preceded in death by his grandparents Donald & Jeanne Miller of Pine City, Erwin & Delores Bartkey of Stillwater, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Dusty is survived by his parents, Mike & Patty Miller of Harris; brother, Nick (Jessica) Miller of Pine City, sister, Andrea (Darrick) Wotachek of Harris, sister, Suzannah Miller of Harris, sister, Loretta (Sean) Kincaid of Los Angeles, CA; nephews, George, Nolan, Blake, Ben, and Gordy; nieces, Dorothy, Sharla, and Cindy; and special friends Vienna, Paula, and Bryson from Eveleth.