Joe Dolison Miller
Joe Dolison Miller, 91, passed away Friday, July 1, 2022, in Okla. City, Oklahoma. Joe was born on February 20, 1931, on the family farm in Custer City, Oklahoma. He was the fifth child of seven children born to Clifford Miller and Tina Mae Graves Miller.
Joe grew up a farm boy and graduated from Custer City High School in 1949. After high school, he joined the United States Air Force and was stationed in Austin, Texas. It was there that he met the love of his life, a young lady by the name of Darlene Joyce Rinkenberger. They later married on June 7, 1953, in Fairbury, Illinois.
Joe was deployed to Goose Bay, Labrador, where he helped construct and manage an Air Force Base, which housed nuclear bombs as a defense system against Russia in the Korean Conflict. After Joe’s honorable discharge from the military, they moved to Oklahoma City to raise their two children, Carmen Kay and Michael Joe.
Joe worked for Bill Hodges Trucking as a truck driver moving oil rigs and oil field equipment. After Mike was born in 1957, Joe took a job for Phil Cornell as a Ranch Foreman so that he could get off the road and spend more time with Darlene and the kids. It was during this time he met Bill Hinkle, a sand and gravel operator. Joe worked several years for him running a dragline crane.
One day at a rodeo, one of Joe’s friends convinced him to go to work for the City of Oklahoma City as a heavy equipment operator, simply because he would be able to get insurance and benefits for Carmen, who was born with Cystic Fibrosis. It was there, that Joe spent the last 20 years working as an equipment operator, later transferring to Code Enforcement. Joe was a worker throughout all of those years.
He broke and trained quarter horses, mules and draft horses. He baled hay and ran a herd of cattle. He was a Past President of the Oklahoma City Roundup Club, Past President of the Oklahoma Draft Horse Association, a member of the American Quarter Horse Association and the Western Oklahoma Cutting Horse Association. He was very active in the Newcastle Senior Citizens and was a member of the Newcastle Christian Church. Joe was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather, and always made time for family activities. He always made sure that he and Darlene attended family reunions as far away as Minnesota, until their health wouldn’t permit it.
He enjoyed watching Mike participate in Rodeo and Roping events, as well as watching his grandson, Josh, play baseball and basketball. Joe liked people and they liked him. He will be missed by all who knew him.
Funeral Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. today (Thursday, July 7, 2022) at Newcastle Christian Church. Burial will follow at 2:30 p.m. at Mound Valley Cemetery in Thomas, Oklahoma. The family received friends from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at Wilson-Little, Tri-City.
Condolences can be sent at www.wilsonlittle.com.