Pioneer of rodeo passes away

By Darell Hartlen, Canadian Director
Posted Monday, February 5, 2007

RODEO LOSES BARREL RACER MILLER HARAGA

One of rodeo’s kindest and most inspirational family members, two-time Canadian champion barrel racer Isabella Miller Haraga, passed away on Friday, January 26.
Miller Haraga died in Arizona, where she rode, trained and raced barrel horses at her winter acreage in Maricopa. It was just two days before her 66th birthday.
She was predeceased by her husband of three years, Arnold Haraga, the 1970 Canadian all-around champion who became a noted sculptor of rodeo bronzes, who died last October.
Her close friend Effie Simpson put things into perspective when she told the Calgary Herald, “You can’t put a number on the many lives she touched in the horse world.”
Miller Haraga claimed Canadian barrel racing titles in 1960 and 1969, was inducted into the Calgary Stampede’s Pioneers of Rodeo group in 1997 and, in 2005, became only the second woman ever inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.
Her survivors include daughters Billie Ruth and Bobbi June, son Tyler and, by marriage, daughter Nancy Csabay and two sons, Brian and Leonard Haraga.
A funeral will be held in Okotoks at the Foothills Centennial Centre on February 9 at 1:00 pm.

The following article was posted in the Calgary newspaper: http://calgarysun.canoe.ca/NewsStand/News/Alberta/2007/02/05/3531008-sun.html