By Deb Price, Editor
On Saturday, January 22, 2022, members of the Ovid-Elsie communities gathered to pay their respects during the funeral of Elsie Fire Fighter, Zach Miller. The funeral was held in the gymnasium at OE High School. Forty-five fire trucks lined up outside representing over 30 area fire departments that would also take part in honoring their fellow firefighter. Following the service, Miller’s casket was loaded onto Elsie Engine 1 and preceded from the high school, lights on, no sirens, to Elsie for one last pass by the fire station on it’s way to his final resting place at Fairfield Cemetery. The Elsie Fire Department, along with the help from the Montcalm County Fire Honor Guard performed a full fire honors funeral for Miller which included a graveside service with the ringing of the bells and last call.
Zach joined the department as a cadet at the age of 16. He graduated from OE in 2020. On January 18th, 2022 at 7:20 a.m. the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a 3 vehicle injury traffic crash on M-21 just west of US 127 in Bingham Township. Upon preliminary investigation, a passenger vehicle driven by Beronica Duttenhaver age 20 of Maple Rapids was exiting the MDOT parking lot to pull out onto M-21 and stopped in the roadway due to traffic, she was then struck by westbound pickup truck driven by Zachary Miller age 20 of Elsie. After the initial crash all occupants were sharing information checking for injuries. A westbound vehicle driven by 17 yr old from Ovid struck two of the individuals in the roadway,
one was a bystander with minor injuries and the second was Miller.
Miller was unresponsive at the scene and transported to Sparrow Clinton where he passed away from his injuries.
The traffic crash remains under investigation
The Elsie Fire Department has set up a benefit account at Journey Federal Credit Union for those who wish to donate to the Miller family. During the O-E varsity boys basketball game on Tuesday, January 25th, a 60 second change drive was held during halftime of the game. A total of $1,700 was collected from OE and Chesaning game attendees for the Miller family.
