Ronald Estep Miller

Ronald Estep Miller

1940-2024

Salt Lake City, UT-Our dad, Ronald Estep Miller, died on New Year's Eve, 2024. Born in 1940 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, his family moved to Salt Lake City when he was young. Dad graduated from West High School in 1958, then joined the Air Force as a medic, and was honorably discharged in 1962.

It was during this period of time that he appeared as a zombie in the cult classic horror movie Carnival of Souls.

Dad met our mom, Pamela Hone, in 1963, and they married in 1966. Their first child, Roni Elizabeth, was born 8 months later.

Jason and Josh arrived in swift succession, with Josh possibly (though perhaps apocryphally) saving their marriage, thus earning him a special part of dad's heart.

While working as a Salt Lake City police officer, Dad went to school and in 1972 graduated summa cum laude from the University of Utah with a degree in Political Science. He then hired on as a Special Agent in the U.S. Treasury Department and moved us all to San Francisco, then El Paso, then Houston. Finally he realized he couldn't live away from the mountains and deserts of Utah, so in 1982 he moved us back to Salt Lake City and became a special investigator for the Attorney General of Utah, eventually achieving the position of Chief Investigator before retiring in 2002.

To most, Dad was genial but private, always loathe to talk about himself. His buddy Kirby Smith, friends from the age of 5, would tell us tales of their raucous youth, of pranks and carousing, of jumping trains and accidental garage demolitions, and we'd gape with awe. Because to us he was the stolid, quiet strength in the corner with a half smile on his face.

Dad was a good man, a caring husband who loved seeing his wife carve her own path, and a model of judgment and character. Despite a career in law enforcement, Dad was progressive in thought and deed, and believed in live and let live. He was a lifelong Democrat, supportive of a woman's right to choose, a gay person's right to live, and most recently, transgender rights.

Dad and Mom were together for 58 years and had an understanding: Mom traveled while Dad camped. Sometimes they'd do those things together, but most often apart, and that led to a long and happy marriage. Aside from Mom, the only thing Dad loved more than Utah and his three children were his 9 grandkids. Somehow each of them had a special place in his heart, and all are still coming to terms with a world without their Poppy.

Dad was truly a man with integrity, and we will always hold him up as a role model. It is hard to imagine life without him.

Dad is survived by his wife, Pamela Hone Miller; daughter Roni Rowe, her husband Kory Rowe, and their children Miller, Elizabeth and her partner Cody, Macy, and Brody; son Jason, his wife Lesa Sullivan-Abajian, and Jason's daughter Analise; son Josh and his children Spencer and his wife Bruna, Parker, Bailey and his partner Mackenzie, and Evan and his partner Max; sister, Patricia Marthakis; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. He was predeceased by his father, Spencer Miller, his mother, Rinnie Fife, his step-father, Alex Fife, and his brother, Larry Miller. Towards the end of Dad's life, he grew particularly close to Bob and Cheryle Randolph.

Instead of flowers, please consider a donation to the ACLU of Utah or encircletogether.org.

Please share your memories, stories, and photos of Ron on the memorial page to celebrate his extraordinary life. Feel free to be as humorous as you would like, as Dad loved to laugh. We'd often find him standing behind us as kids when we watched the coyote chasing the roadrunner, chuckling away. To share more personal memories or contact the family, please send an email to ronaldestepmiller@everythingsinteresting.com.