Dewey Mills

Air Force TSgt (retired) Dewey Mills passed away peacefully on October 10, 2019 in Sacramento, California after a courageous 3 year battle against heart disease. Dewey was born in Scalf, Kentucky on January 17, 1928 the 9th child of 16 children (14 boys and 2 girls) born to Nasby Mills and Lucy Carnes Mills. Preceded in death by his beloved wife of 53 years, Mary Jane Mills. Also preceding him in death were his Father and Mother and all 15 of his siblings; sisters Captola Valentine and Louise Lingar, and brothers Curtis, Tom, Taylor, Elzo, Cecil, George, Arthur, James, Nasby Jr, Robert, Carnes, Pershing and Daniel Mills. He is survived by his daughters Debra Conner and Patricia Mills; Granddaughters Shannon (James) Miles, Brandi (Damion) Hunt, Jennifer (Zane) Whitfield and Brittany Lucchese; Great Grandchildren Marday (Kenny) Salmond, Taliyah Miles, Delaney Hunt, Briana Hunt, Eryn Hunt, Kayla Dougherty, Jordan McGowan, Jaidyn Siennicki, Trevon McNeil, and Cameron McNeil; Great Great Granddaughters Shaelyn Salmond and Natalia McGowan along with numerous nieces and nephews.

Dewey Mills enlisted in the Army in March 1946 and did basic training in Maryland where he also did U-Boat watches on the Chesapeake Bay. He had tours of duty in both Germany and France performing post-war functions. He returned stateside in February 1949 and was discharged from the Army in March 1949. After a short break, he enlisted in the Air Force in August 1949. He was stationed in Japan and worked at Gen McArthur’s headquarters from January 1950 until June 1951 when he was sent to Tageu, Korea during the Korean War and eventually ended in Seoul, Korea until February 1952 when he was reassigned as an aircraft mechanic at Scott AFB, Illinois. He was then assigned to Mather AFB, California in 1953. It was there that he met and married Mary Jane who worked in Base Supply. They were married in February 1956. After 12 years at Mather AFB, he was transferred to Clark AB in the Philippine Island of Luzon from 1965-1967. His final assignment was to Pope AFB, North Carolina where he retired in November 1968 with over 22 years service. He then brought the family back to Sacramento, California and after a various jobs, was hired as a civilian Supply Warehouseman at McClellan AFB, California in 1973 and retired in August 1988 bringing his total time serving in the Army/Air Force to 37 years.

Dewey suffered a heart attack November 8, 2016 and was only given 2 weeks to live so he was brought home and placed in Hospice Care. True to his nature, those 2 weeks turned into 35 months. This was in large part due to the outstanding care he was given his last 2 ½ years. The family is forever grateful to his amazing caregivers: Belinda Torres-Rosemon, Rosemary Torres, Christina Torres, Brianna Torres, and Sylvia Knight. The family would also like to extend special thanks to Dr. John Thompson, Nurse Raman Badesha, and Social Worker Pam O’Leary who walked this long hard journey with us.

As the number of Mills family siblings began to lessen, Dewey and remaining brothers would talk about who would be in charge of “turning out the lights”. Those lights were turned off for good on October 10, 2019. May they all rest in peace.

A visitation will be held October 19, 2019 at 12:00 PM in the family chapel at Mount Vernon Memorial Park, 8201 Greenback Lane, Fair Oaks, CA. A service will then be held at the same location at 1:00 PM immediately followed by graveside military honors ceremony.