Newlywed Hit, Killed While Loading Wedding Gifts

LONGMONT -- A 28-year-old Fort Collins man has died after being struck by a car while loading wedding gifts into his wife's car. The two were married just the day before.

Police say a car driven by Connie Marie Petitt, 56, of Longmont hit Miller on Tuesday, pinning him against his wife's car. Miller and his wife, Katy, were married in Evergreen Monday night. The couple was visiting Katy’s parents in Longmont when the accident occurred.

Police believe the woman may have been under the influence of prescription drugs.

Miller graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in journalism. He worked as the sports editor at the Windsor Beacon in the summer of 2003 before joining the Fort Collins-based Harlem Ambassadors, a traveling basketball club that promotes a healthy lifestyle and racial harmony.

Publish Date: 7/7/2007

Friends, family and neighbors converge at a makeshift memorial Friday for Lee Miller, who died as a result of injuries sustained in an accident on the 1200 block of South Pratt Parkway on Tuesday. Times-Call/Joshua Buck

‘It is probably the worst pain’
Family of Fort Collins man believes he is watching over them

By Pierrette J. Shields
The Daily Times-Call

LONGMONT — Even as they suffer through the crippling grief of 28-year-old Lee Miller’s death, his parents believe he is still looking out for them, his new bride and the couple’s 2-year-old daughter.

Miller died Tuesday night at Longmont United Hospital after he was struck by a car on the 1200 block of South Pratt Parkway and pinned between the Ford Taurus that hit him and his Honda at about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Buck Miller said his son was loading wedding gifts into his car when he was hit. He had married Katy Conway the day before in a ceremony in Evergreen attended by more than 100 family members and friends. The couple’s daughter, Maia Leigh, served as a flower girl.

Lee Miller

“With something like this, it is probably the worst pain that a parent can face, so you get up in the morning and you don’t know if you can face the pain. Then you think of the things that can help you get through,” Buck Miller said Friday, noting that the family was surrounded by extended family and friends when Miller was hit. “If he had anything to do with it, and his mom and I have that sense ... it was like he was watching out for us. We had so many people here when this happened.”

The driver in the accident, Connie Petitt, 56, was still in Longmont United Hospital on Friday evening. She was listed in good condition.

Cmdr. Craig Earhart of the Longmont Police Department said arrangements have been made for Petitt to turn herself in when she is released from the hospital. Police anticipate arresting her on suspicion of vehicular homicide in Miller’s death.

Miller was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and moved with his family to Montrose, where he grew up and graduated from high school in 1997. He earned his journalism degree from Colorado State University in December 2003 and met his future wife, Katy, while in school. Their daughter Maia was born March 19, 2005.

Buck Miller said his son was a great father.

“He was there. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do. He changed diapers. He played with her. He loved playing with her,” he said. “He was patient with her. ... He’s done a wonderful job with Maia.”

Miller lived in Fort Collins and was in Longmont visiting in-laws after the wedding.

“He’s got an awful lot of friends who are devastated,” Buck Miller said. “They are very, very close. There are a lot of them who couldn’t make the wedding who are coming to the services. A lot who came to the wedding turned around and came back.”

Family friend Scott Elnicki said the wedding was beautiful and he will remember a fun-loving man.

“I’ve never seen him down in the dumps or anything,” Elnicki said. “He was always just Lee.”

Miller worked for the Fort Collins-based charity basketball team the Harlem Ambassadors.

The organization’s president and general manager, Dale Moss, said Miller was an easy-going man with an ability to work with all kinds of people.

“He was sort of user-friendly,” Moss said. “He was even-headed, no rough edges, got along with everybody.”

Before taking a position with the team, Lee Miller worked as an intern with the Windsor Beacon newspaper.

Senior reporter and friend Kurt Hinkle said Miller was the first person he called to talk about journalism, golf, parenting, sports and music.

“With his passing, I lost five buddies wrapped in one,” he said.

Hinkle said his friend was witty and a “tremendous writer.”

Friends and family on Friday recalled a man who was well versed in many topics, including sports. Buck Miller said his son loved football, baseball and fantasy sports leagues and had a mind for the statistics that drive sports fans.

Lee Miller is survived by his wife; his daughter; his parents, Buck and Marsha Miller; a brother, Lane; his grandparents, Ralph and Nyda; and many aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the Colorado State University Oval, followed by a celebration of his life at Sullivan’s in Fort Collins.

Memorial contributions may be made to Maia Leigh Miller in care of Allnutt Funeral Services, 650 W. Drake Road, Fort Collins 80526.

Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273, or by e-mail at pshields@times-call.com.

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