Uncle Fred

Casey & girls

Uncle Buck Miller

Restoring Dupree House

Donald & Buck

Scott, Dupree

Family Reunion

Karen & Ann

Cutting Ice for Icehouse

Gen

Grandma Eliza &
pet coyote 1919

Clint & Jean Farlee
Cully's daughter

Cully's extended family

White Swan School

Gen & Casey

Oschners & Buck

Grma & Grpa Miller

Casey Tolstoy Cemetery

Millers & Hendersons

Ann

73 Family Reunion

Uncle Buck

Buck,Sally,Sue

Restored House

Casey

Casey & Girls

Gen

Donna,Doug,Marvin
Donald Millers kids

Millers & friends
 

Walter (Casey) and Genevieve Miller, Ann's parents, married in 1936 and moved onto land south of Dupree, South Dakota.  Over the years, while working other jobs, they farmed, ranched and improved the place, building a new house right after WWII, buying more land as they could.  

 After 14 years at Dupree, in 1950, the Miller family moved to Spearfish in the Black Hills.    They continued going to the ranch most weekends and any vacations for nearly 40 years, but by 1990 when Casey was 80 years old, he'd sold most of the cattle and horses, and it was getting more and more difficult to maintain things 120 miles from their home. 

He split up the ranch and gave it to his three daughters.  Don and Ann ended up with the land with the house on it.  They had the house stuccoed,  all new windows and a new steel roof put on, and now the outside will last another 50 years.   They are working on the inside as they get time,  but actually enjoy the  "old farmhouse look"  and won't change too much of that.    

Casey, at 96 years old, still enjoyed trips out to his ranch, and Ann would take  him there each summer.  Casey passed away in March of 2007 thus ending an era his whole family treasured, but Ann and Don took him to Tolstoy and Dupree his last summer. 

 

Ann and Casey

Steve, Deb, Don and Ann were in a van, passing through Dupree and decided to go to the cemetery and show Steve and Deb where all the Miller relatives were buried.    Upon exiting the cemetery they saw some little Indian kids with a kool aid stand beside the road, so Don pulled in.    They announced it was 25c, they only had one cup, and would serve us one at a time.    Don gave them a quarter,  one little kid put his hand up to his elbow into the kool aid, stirred it, and they filled their used paper cup and handed it in.   Don passed it back to Steve, who opened a window on the opposite side and poured it out.   The cup came back up front,  Don gave them another quarter, they filled the cup and Steve disposed of it, out of sight.  This was repeated four times so "everyone got some kool aid".     As they drove away the kids were excitedly splitting their loot.    

One year Don and Ann drove two pickups from Alaska, left one in Sturgis and drove the second one to Dupree.   As they drove down Main Street in Dupree, many people sitting in the backs of their pickups waved and waved, and they waved back.  My these folks are friendly!! Ann turned around, looked behind them, and they were leading the Homecoming Parade!

 

Miller family

Gen, Frances Confirmation

School picnic

R: Clara & Ernie Olson

Ernie Olson

Family,Eliza,Spearfish

Verna & kids

Family working.
 

Ann and her mom riding.   (left)     Ann, two sisters and an uncle. (right)  

The girls grew up with horses part of their everyday life.    They'd put a bridle on, climb the corral to reach the horse's back, and head out  bareback.   Sometimes a horse would stop to eat grass and with its head to the ground, a little girl could slide down its neck.  There were boundaries as to how far you were allowed to go, but that didn't always stop them and Ann can remember some mighty long walks home leading a horse, because she was too short to get back on.  Casey had gentle horses for the kids and spirited horses that he would train.

Click to read the 1957 Dupree High School Yearbook

DONALD DENNIS AND ANN (MILLER) DENNIS FAMILY WEBSITE                     NEW on the site  

  9.  Extended Family

       Ann's Pottery/Art 

Classmates              

Baseball 

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