David Reed Miller

David Reed Miller, age 64, of Fremont, Michigan, passed away on Sunday,
March 4, 2018 after a 5 month battle against pancreatic cancer.  David
was born in Metairie (suburb of New Orleans), Louisiana on January 27,
1954 to his parents James M. Miller and Patricia R. (Lilly) Miller, who
are both deceased.  David was raised in New Orleans until age 8, when
his family moved to his mother’s home state of Texas.  David finished
growing up in Dallas, TX, where he met his wife, Tangela (Coon) Miller,
in 1986.

Later, in 1993, David would help raise his nephew, Dustin Coon.  He had
a blast involving Dustin with Indian Guides, Cub Scout, Boy Scouts,
going to amusement parks, air shows, and of course, every restaurant in
town!  When Dustin was in high school, David began to volunteer with the
Robotics team, where he helped machine custom parts and guide the
students on how to operate the bot.

David went to junior college to study accounting, but was very talented
in all-things-mechanical, which he inherited from his (also very
mechanical) father, a WWII fighter plane mechanic.  David’s dad used to
give him projects to handle as a young child, like a bicycle completely
disassembled, and told David if he wanted to ride the bike, he would
have to put it together.  During high school, David was fascinated with
machine shop class, and would spend his free time on shop projects and
cars.  David worked on his first hotrod at age 16.

Over the years, David built up machining expertise in most areas of
tooling.  He loved to solve challenges, and would always come up with
creative solutions to machining difficulties.  If he needed a part that
was not available, he would even go so far as to build it from scratch.
He was probably too much of a perfectionist, but it earned him a career
as a very meticulous and thorough inspector.

David’s hobbies were sailing, skiing (loved Aspen), bicycle marathons
(like the ‘Hotter-Than-Hell Hundred’ in Texas), and building drones.  He
took up sailing for years and studied sailing/navigation with the
Sailing Association in the Houston, Texas area.  David also belonged to
the Lake Lewisville / Dallas Sailing Club where he would participate in
races weekly.

David and his mother were very close and she always kept him on track.
She did a great job passing down her strong Christian faith to David.
He might not have been sitting in church every week, but he admired and
defended the faith.

He was the rock and foundation of the family.  He would go to the ends
of the earth to protect the ones he loved. His loss is huge.  He will be
so loved and missed.

Tange, Dustin and family.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, May 18, 2018 at the Holton United Methodist Church (9530 Holton Duck Lake Road) with Pastor Jerry Selleck officiating.   

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