Funeral, Cremation & Cemetery

Mills & Mills Funeral Home & Memorial Park

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360-357-7743

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5725 Littlerock Road SW
Tumwater, WA 98512
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Since 1901, Mills & Mills Funeral Home in Tumwater, Washington, has served the community with a full array of funeral and memorial services. For more than a century, we have upheld a tradition of providing personal and compassionate funeral care to Olympia-area families. 

Mills & Mills Memorial Park is a peaceful final resting place for the people of Tumwater and the surrounding area. It's designed to be a serene and calming location that features the natural beauty of Washington. Working together, the funeral home and cemetery allow you to handle everything from funerals and memorial services to burials and memorial markers.

 

 

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Funeral planning can seem overwhelming. These guides can help you every step of the way—from choosing between traditional burial planning and cremation, designing a religious ceremony or a celebration of life, and deciding on cemetery property or filing for veteran's benefits.

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About

Your dedicated funeral provider

We understand that losing a loved one is an emotional and difficult experience. Mills & Mills Funeral Home is a warm, welcoming environment with services designed to help you through one of the most personal and challenging stages of life.

Our welcoming facility offers a full kitchen, spacious foyer and chapel with robust video and audio capabilities.

Whether you wish to arrange for a traditional funeral or a celebration of life ceremony, plan to have a large gathering or would like a more intimate service, our team will work with you 1-on-1 to ensure your needs, wishes and budget are met. It is our promise to provide you with the utmost care and to create a ceremony that is special and meaningful.

Mills & Mills Memorial Park

The sister location to the funeral home, Mills & Mills Memorial Park is a beautiful cemetery surrounded by wooded land. Within our cemetery grounds, you'll find the Pacific Northwest spirit alive and thriving. We specifically care for and maintain many special trees and plants: giant sequoias, maples, pines and an 88-foot-tall American chestnut tree—the largest in the Pacific Northwest and renowned as the largest healthy member of its species in the United States.

Currently, only 18 of the memorial park's 32 acres are developed for cemetery use. The remaining land remains open for future gardens, features and generations. The cemetery currently maintains 10 gardens for ground burial, each with its own special features. We have a mausoleum for above-ground entombment and various niche walls for cremation urn placement.

We keep a full-time, year-round crew to care for our serene cemetery. Even in the lull of winter, we remain dedicated to the highest quality care of our lawns, trees, shrubs and plants.

We honor veterans

Mills & Mills Funeral Home & Memorial Park understands the unique needs of America’s veterans and their families. As a Level One Founding Community Partner with We Honor Veterans, our staff is knowledgeable in the benefits available to veterans and their families. With respect, integrity and dignity, we will walk you through the steps of creating a veteran's memorial service that truly honors the life and sacrifice of your loved one.

Contact us, day or night

Both the funeral home and cemetery offer services founded on respect, dependability and integrity. We welcome you to come by for a tour of the cemetery grounds and modern funeral home where you can also meet the friendly funeral home and cemetery teams.

Community events

In addition to the services we provide at the funeral home and cemetery, we also invite the community to join us periodically throughout the year for various events. Every year, we host a Memorial Day program to honor those who have served our country. On Halloween, we host an evening Countdown to Candy event. We also invite the public to attend our Light The Night luminary event during the holiday season. It is our hope that these events will bring a sense of comfort and community to families who are grieving.

History

Mills & Mills began at the turn of the century when William R. Whiteside, an undertaker from St. Louis, Missouri, settled in Olympia, Washington, and built the original facility at what is now 414 S. Franklin St. in 1901. This historic building, except for some slight modifications and remodeling (in 1928, 1954 and 1980), remains mostly in its original form.

In 1906, the Whiteside family moved operations to the then more promising area in Grays Harbor and sold the business to Louis J. Sticklin of Chehalis, Washington. Louis was originally a cabinetmaker and started his 1st funeral home in Morris, Pennsylvania. In 1890, he came to the Pacific Northwest and set up shop in Chehalis. The Sticklin Undertaking Company operated the business until 1915, when it was sold to Jesse T. Mills.

Family passion

Jesse T. Mills was a colorful character in Olympia and served as the city sheriff from 1900 to 1903 and mayor from 1917 to 1920. In 1919, he brought his nephew Arley D. Mills into the business of Mills Funeral Parlors. In the mid-1920s, the uncle-nephew team changed the name to Mills & Mills Funeral Home.

Jesse died in 1943, and Arley brought an old friend, Lawrence O. “L.O.” Swenson, into the business as a partner. This arrangement lasted until Jesse died in 1956 and Lawrence took over as the sole owner of the business. The business was then sold to Dan L. McCaughan in 1963. He held proprietorship until January 1980, when he sold the business to Doug and Barbara Twibell. The business had been known as Mills & Mills Funeral Service. In the following years, the name evolved to Mills & Mills Funeral Directors and later to Mills & Mills Funeral Home.

Standing strong

Aside from necessary updates and repairs, the historic Franklin Street building stood steady and served the needs of our team and client families for many years. On February 28, 2001, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake centered in the Nisqually Delta hit the Olympia area. The building rocked and moved with the rest of downtown Olympia. Unfortunately, the building sustained substantial damage and the business was moved to Olympic Memorial Gardens on Littlerock Road. On September 11, 2005, the new building was dedicated under its current name.

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CUSTOMER REVIEWS

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"Everyone I encountered at Mills and Mills were pleasant and helpful."

Verified Cremation Customer

March 2020

"Our families experience was such a positive one with Mills & Mills. In such a difficult time they made everything a little better. The process went so smoothly and we knew we made the correct choice f)..."

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Verified Cremation Customer

March 2020

"Welcoming staff. Comfortable atmosphere. Little to no pressure."

Verified Cremation Customer

November 2019

"All of our concerns were resolved. I feel that I can reach out for ongoing help and support should I decide that I need it. That is very comforting."

Verified Cremation Customer

October 2019

"Death is not an easy thing especially when it's your parent. I want to thank Mills and Mills for making one of the hardest times in my life such an easy process. They went above and beyond to help wi)..."

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Verified Customer

September 2019

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