David Robert McMillen was born on October 17, 1934, in Helena, MT to Lester and Olive (Menapace) McMillen. He had a big sister Joanne. They moved to Sidney in 1940, so Lester could farm with his dad, J.R. McMillen. Growing up David had livestock to feed and milked a lot of cows. He went to Midway school, which was about 3/4 mile from where they lived. They walked to school as they were close, and he remembered other kids riding horses. There were 8 grades in the one room school. His mother, Olive, was a teacher there for a couple of years. If the weather was bad, they just stayed at the school. David went to Sidney for high school, graduating in 1953.

David and Pat Sawyer were married in 1954. David enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to Germany. He served for 3 years. Donna Ree was born in 1955 in Sidney. Pat and Donna were in Germany for a while with him. Terri was born in 1957, a couple of months early, so David got an early discharge and came home. Jerry was born in 1960 and Kyle was born in 1962.

David and Pat purchased the Sawyer place and later bought the homestead that his grandfather started when he moved from Missouri in 1907.

David was active in many organizations and served on many boards. These included: being a 4-H leader, Brorson School board member, and Richland County Farm Bureau- where he received the Distinguished Service Award in 2017 by the Montana Farm Bureau Federation. He also was active with the Foundation for Community Care and was elected as a County Commissioner for Richland County. He was a proud lifetime member of the VFW. He was also a member of the Moose Lodge & Elks Lodge.

When David semi-retired, he started restoring old vehicles and spent many hours working on them. He loved to drive his old vehicles in local parades, asking his kids and grandkids to drive them with him.

David went into the Lodge in July of 2021. He loved to go for rides, always looking forward to going out to the ranch and asking, “where are we going?” whenever we stopped to see him. We moved him into extended care in February of 2024.

David peacefully passed away on Saturday May 4, 2024, at the Sidney Health Center Extended Care with family by his side.

He is survived by his son-in-law Greg Buxbaum, daughter Terri Zadow, son Jerry (Leslie) McMillen and son Kyle (Karen) McMillen; his grandchildren Laurel (Chad) Molden, BreAnne Buxbaum, Jace (Kali) Buxbaum, Katie (Josh) Herman, Kali Zadow, Sara (Brandon) Mueller, Wade (Amanda) McMillen, Nathan McMillen, Wacey (Taryn) McMillen and Beth McMillen; and eight great-grandchildren Asher, Vaughn, Letty, Trenton, Dani, Huxley, Lincoln and Lucy.

He is preceded in death by his parents, wife Pat, daughter Donna, infant son Zane, infant daughter Karen, sister Joanne, and grandson Patrick.

Memorial Contribution

Thank You