David Mills, the brother of Gov. Janet Mills who lived more privately than any other member of his political family, died Friday at age 78 in his hometown of Farmington.
He was born in 1945 as the second oldest of five children born to the late S. Peter Mills Jr., who went on to be the U.S. attorney for Maine, and Katherine Coffin Mills, who was known as Kay and was a longtime educator in the Farmington area.
While talking about his late brother on Monday, Peter Mills, who is now the executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority, said his father, who was a Navy captain during World War II, only went on leave twice during the war. Kay got pregnant both times, first with Peter and then David. Peter Mills remembered Memorial Day being a major highlight in Farmington after the war.
“While most of us boys wore western hats and toy six-shooters, David preferred to imitate my father by donning portions of a [naval] uniform and asking if he could attend Dad’s post-war Reserve meetings,” Peter Mills said.
David Mills did not get through high school due to emotional disabilities, Peter Mills said. But he lived independently nearly his entire adult life, caring for the siblings’ grandmother and holding a string of jobs for contractors and at a wood turning mill, a tannery and at the now-closed G.H. Bass shoe factory in Wilton.
“He was a personable raconteur on many subjects of interest, a companionable conversationalist who loved history and country music,” his obituary reads.
David Mills was found at home recently after a medical emergency by his brother, Farmington lawyer Paul Mills, Peter Mills said. He died after two weeks at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and is survived by his siblings, also including Dr. Dora Mills, the chief health improvement officer for MaineHealth.