Obituary
Galen Leon Miller was born on June 30, 1957 to Jonas and Lillian Miller in Iowa City, Iowa. Most of his childhood and growing up was spent in St. Louis, MO, where he lived with his parents and sister Nancy. Upon graduation, he went to Kansas University where he received a bachelor’s degree in architecture. He continued to work in architecture for three years in the St. Louis area.
After this time, he answered God’s call to serve in a full time Christian ministry with Cru. His early years with Cru were spent using his degree in helping to design interior office layouts at Cru’s headquarters in San Bernardino, CA. He also loved the time he worked on a special projects team under the vice president of Cru. His time in California ended when he had the task of coordinating the move of Cru’s physical space to Orlando, FL. He often told the story that it took 70 semi’s filled with desks, file cabinets, etc to transition from one place to the other.
His heart’s desire was to serve overseas, which he had the chance to with several short term mission’s trips. Another story he told is when he traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria to spend time with his girlfriend, is that he had two questions, one was would Cindy Bowzer marry me and second was if Bulgaria was the place and the timing to serve. Both answers were “yes”.
On May 28, 1994 Galen Leon Miller and Cynthia Ann Bowzer were married in O’Fallon, MO. They together moved to Bulgaria, where they spent 9 years serving. Living in Bulgaria was a highlight for both of them. They loved the years there. They made many lasting relationships with both Americans and Bulgarians.
Two of their girls Rachel Margaret Miller and Rebecca Grace Miller were born while living in Bulgaria. Their third daughter, Hannah Lillian Miller jokes that she also lived there because Cindy was six months pregnant they moved to Orlando, FL.
The majority of time in Orlando, Galen spent working with Story Runners. Anyone who knew him, knows he was passionate about Story Runners and the ministry they have reaching the oral people groups of the world through stories.
Galen loved riding bikes with his daughters, going lunch or coffee with his wife, playing basketball during his lunch hour, talking with other men about their relationship with Jesus, getting to know neighbors, teaching Sunday School at church, beach outings with his family and much more. He was a man who loved people!
Galen spent nearly 35 years working with Cru and almost 24 years married to Cindy.
Galen was preceded in death by his mother: Lillian Miller and brother in law: James Ellis Bowzer.
Survivors include his wife Cynthia Ann Miller, three daughters: Rachel Margaret Miller, Rebecca Grace Miller, Hannah Lillian Miller, father: Jonas Miller, sister: Nancy Ellis, nieces: Christina Ellis and Jennifer Ellis.
My deepest sympathies to his family