Christ Community Covenant Church

Karen Miller

Those who know her best know she has a servant’s heart. Since 1988, this charter member of 4C’s has, with love, prepared the elements and communion table before services each month. For Karen Adel Smith Miller, it has been a special ministry and gift of service to her church family.

Karen was born February 23, 1940 in Crawford, a small farming community in the northwest corner of Nebraska south of the Oglala Grasslands and just outside of what is now Fort Robinson State Park. Until the age of seven, her parents, Lloyd and Myrtle Smith, lived on rented land and Lloyd worked at Fort Robinson caring for animals at what had become, at the end of World War I, the world's largest quartermaster remount depot. Horses and mules were bred and trained there for the military, and, during World War II, the Fort was also the site of a K-9 corps training center. In 1947, the army decided to abandon Fort Robinson and Lloyd and his family purchased their own farm in this fertile area fed by tributaries of the White River. They grew wheat, oats, corn and barley, and Lloyd was especially proud of his small herd of purebred Black Angus cattle. It was a good time and place to raise this breed as Fort Robinson had been transferred in 1948 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its Beef Cattle Research Station.

The farm had a small two bedroom house on the property, tight quarters for Karen’s family which also included two older brothers and a younger sister. But the family made it work, and Karen remembers many good times in that small home. Myrtle planted a huge garden that helped to feed their family and Karen assisted in canning hundreds of jars of fruits and vegetables. Her mother also kept chickens to pay for school clothes and other family necessities and Karen would help butcher up to 25 a day to sell at the Quick Serve market in town. When he was 8 one of her brothers was kicked in his ear by a horse, resulting in deafness, so mother would not allow horses on the farm after that incident. But they had 14 milk cows, and after her mother fell out of the hay mow and broke her collar bone, Karen – at only 14 herself – took on mother’s chore and had to milk them on her own until her mother recovered.

Karen’s family was very close and her parents loved socializing with family and neighbors. Aunts, uncles, cousins and friends would all gather for great, often spur of the moment meals, and the cousins would play and enjoy each others company for hours while the adults talked and played cards. The family would all go to town on Saturday night, and the kids would eventually cuddle up together for a nap on benches surrounding the dance floor while their parents enjoyed the festivities.

Karen attended country school through grade eight and graduated from Crawford High School in 1957. On August 18th, just a few months after graduation, she married her high school sweetheart, Marvin Miller and moved to Ogallala, NE. Over the next eight years Marvin taught high school math, and the couple welcomed four children into their world: Lyndall in 1958, Valerie in 1959, Kalon in 1961, and Craig in 1963. Marvin moved the family to Denver in 1964 to take a teaching position at Lakewood Junior High and in 1965 their fifth child, Laurie, joined the family. Marvin moved to teaching positions at Bear Creek High School and eventually Pomona High School while Karen stayed at home and cared for their five children. Karen loved being a mom and remembers those years as the best days of her life. Some of her favorite memories include their family’s many camping trips to the mountains while the children were young. Church attendance was also important and they were members of Community Baptist on Garrison and Oberon for many years until they felt the need to search for a new church home and moved to Arvada Covenant in 1981.

It wasn’t until Laurie started school in 1971 that Karen took a job at Sears selling toys, then cameras and calculators. While there she developed an interest in computers and decided to get training from IBM in data processing. She then worked at temp agencies to gain experience, taking a variety of positions including one favorite temp job at a newspaper where she learned some computer programming as well. This led to a position for two years with Boetcher Finance Company working with stocks and bonds. While there Karen became good friends with her “bus buddy” who was the word processing manager for Delloitte and Touche and was looking for good help. She gave Karen a job and trained her in word processing which would eventually lead to positions at “big four” accounting firms Price Waterhouse, KPMG Peat Marwick, and then to Grant Thornton, LLP as the WP department manager. Karen had found some success in her work, but was dealing with increasing difficulties at home that she knew were going to change her life.

In 1986, Karen and Marvin went their separate ways, and Karen joined the fledgling 4C’s congregation in 1988 as a charter member. She was going through some difficult emotional times, and decided that she didn’t really care for all of the obligations inherent in being a manger. That decision led her to SAFECO Insurance, Harland Printing (she printed your checks!), and eventually a position with the Denver Rescue Mission soliciting donations for the organization from 2006 until 2009, a job she thoroughly enjoyed. Over time, calls to potential donors became a ministry to her. Karen loved to chat with people, relating to those she spoke with and genuinely empathizing with their troubles and problems. She was always willing to lend an ear, offering help and even suggesting other agencies that could assist them with their needs. Often those she called were very generous in return, and Karen was pleased to have helped bring in record amounts of gifts each year. She continued that special ministry this year doing thank you calls to donors on behalf of the Denver Rescue Mission.

Karen’s ability to sympathize with others has come about through her own struggles with anxiety, depression, and diagnosed PTSD. She has sought out resources that are helping her deal with past difficult times in her life and has willingly shared that information with others who have found themselves in a similar situation. These resources, and some assistance with physical limitations, are helping her reconcile issues that have troubled her for many years. She is expecting further resolution in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy that reportedly helps in erase troubling memories, and she depends on her faith and Bible study to keep her grounded. For 20 years, Karen has been immersed in Precept Bible Studies which entails 2-3 hours of study each day. She has spent 20 years studying 23 books of the Bible and those many hours have made her strong in the Word and increased her faith.

Despite past difficulties, Karen and Marvin have worked hard to share family times so that neither was left out and that has helped to keep their family members close. Family has always been deeply important to Karen, now even more so as she experienced the passing of her brother and sister, and most recently her “go to” brother in 2014. She spends many wonderful hours with her family, including Craig and Kay Miller and their children, Anissa and Blake, and Laurie and Dory Ross and their daughters Kristina, Stephany and Alexis (who are all members of 4C’s), 11 other grandchildren and 8 great grandkids! As a special gift for her granddaughter’s wedding, Karen prepared a book including all her best recipes for her famous pies with time tested instructions on how to make each one just right! (We think she should publish it!)

In addition to time with her family, Karen loves to sew and hopes to soon re-start her small alterations business, “Pins & Needles”. She still loves to bake her wonderful pies for the holidays, shares cookies with her neighbors and enjoys decorating her home, especially outside for her neighbors to enjoy. Besides sharing her servant’s heart through communion preparation for the past 33 years, (at 4C’s and before), we have all enjoyed her delicious dishes at our many potluck and other church related functions.

Karen is always attentive to God’s still small voice. She loves the passage in Acts: 2:25-28, and also Zephaniah 3:17 which reads, “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Pastor Gary Copeland used this as his sermon scripture the very weekend that her marriage ended—a message meant precisely for her! Karen has always felt covered by God’s love no matter what the situation. She knows from personal experience that God is with us at all times and knows our needs.