He was born on a farm in Cleveland Township on January 17, 1939, the fourth of fourteen children of William and Evelyn (Svoboda) Miller, and was raised on that same land. His family were among the earliest settlers in the region, and his attachment to Leelanau County, and to that particular parcel of land, never diminished. He was among the first classes to attend the one-room schoolhouse in Maple City and worked his way to Michigan State University, where he earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. He then served for two years in the United States Army as a captain, stationed in Okinawa.

He began his veterinary career in large animal practice and, in the late 1960s, moved to metropolitan Detroit to open a small animal practice of his own. The work suited him. He took real satisfaction in serving a community and in restoring the health of animals that, to their owners, were part of the family. It was in Detroit that he met Karin Weening, a veterinarian at a neighboring practice. They married in Fraser, Michigan, on May 1, 1971, and raised their two children, Kathryn and Marc, in Macomb County.

The farm on which he had been born belonged to his father, who raised other crops there but believed it was some of the finest cherry land in the area. Joseph acquired the property in the early 1980s and, in 1986, planted a 200-acre cherry orchard, fulfilling his father’s vision of what that ground could become. The orchard also provided father and son a great deal of time together during the final years of William’s life. Joe and his son, Marc, worked the young orchard together through the summers that followed.

He sold his veterinary practice in 1999, as the orchard reached maturity, and returned to Northern Michigan for good. He had no intention of retiring in the conventional sense. He meant to stay busy and productive, and he wanted to be near his family.

Once settled again in Leelanau County, he and Karin traveled to New Zealand and concluded that was where they wished to spend the months outside cherry season. For many years thereafter, they lived from October to April in Wanaka, where they took up tramping and explored much of the New Zealand countryside. He became a keen golfer and croquet player and maintained an active social life there. A season of recreation set against a year of work on the orchard was exactly the life he wanted, and he loved it.

He farmed with the same care he had brought to his veterinary practice. He spared little expense in the orchard and set out to raise the most robust and healthy crop he could. He took great pleasure, too, in the visual beauty of the farm through the seasons. He was still tending his land in the final week of his life.

In recent years, he and Karin divided their time between Maple City and Charlotte, North Carolina, which brought them closer to their grandchildren, whom he adored. He treasured his family, the large household that raised him, and the county he came from and came back to. He remained a Michigan State man all his life and was rarely seen out of its colors. His was a complete life, and he took great pleasure in the living of it.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Karin; his children, Kathryn (Paul) Taylor and Marc (Sandrine) Miller; his grandchildren, Alexandra Miller, Sabrina Miller, Jillian Taylor and Emerson Taylor; his brothers, Terrence, Timothy, Paul, Robert, Richard and Peter Miller; his sisters, Nancy Cripps and Katherine Svoboda; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, William and Evelyn Miller; his brothers, William, Patrick and Edward Miller; and his sisters, Della Rae Miller and Evelyn Colleen Turcotte.

A service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 29th at St. Joseph Church, 5899 S Bohemian Rd, Maple City, MI 49664 followed by graveside service and burial at St. Joseph Church Bohemian Settlement Cemetery on Bohemian Road in Maple City.

Please share condolences with the family at www.martinson.info.

Arrangements are with the Martinson Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Leelanau.