Funeral services for Esther Miller, 96, of McLaughlin will be at 10 AM MT, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 at Redeemer Lutheran Church in McLaughlin. Burial will be at the Lutheran Cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge. Visitation will start at 5 PM with a prayer service at 6:30 PM MT Wednesday at the church. Esther passed away Saturday, January 2, 2016 at the Golden Living Center in Mobridge.

Esther Margeretha (Hertel) Miller was born on December 18, 1919, to Fred F. and Lydia J. (Knittel) Hertel on the farm where her grandfather had homesteaded in 1906, 11 miles east of McLaughlin, SD. She grew up on the farm and was baptized and confirmed at the Hope Lutheran Church of rural McLaughlin. She attended the rural Roosevelt School and then McLaughlin High School. She graduated from McLaughlin High School in 1942.

Following high school, she helped her parents by working on the farm. Esther met Theodore Miller in 1942 and they were married on October 3, 1943, at Hope Lutheran Church. They lived with Theodore's parents for four years. They bought a farm at Maple Leaf, SD, in 1948 and farmed there until 1954 when they moved to Firesteel, SD, to work at the Broken Heart Ranch owned by Ralph Peterson. They moved to Anaconda, MT, in 1956.

Esther moved back to McLaughlin after the death of her husband in 2003. She moved to the Golden Living Center in Mobridge in 2013, where she has since resided.

Esther was a busy lady. She taught Sunday School for 8 years at McLaughlin before moving to Anaconda where she was a Sunday School teacher and supervisor for 10 years. She also enjoyed doing embroidery and fishing.

Esther is survived by a brother, Willie (Bernice) Hertel of Gillette, WY; and a sister-in-law, Violet Hertel of McLaughlin.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ted in 2003; four brothers, Willie, Henry, Elmer and Walter Hertel; and her parents.