Travis Wayne Mills

Travis W. Mills of Alpharetta, GA died peacefully in hospice care on May 30, 2026. Born in Bagnell, Miller County, Missouri July 6, 1932, he was the son of Travis B. Mills of Miller Co. Arkansas and Mary Zula Holloman Mills of Robertson Co. Texas, both descendants of early pioneer families. He attended high school in Wagoner, Oklahoma where he was president of the student body, vice president of the senior class, a baseball and basketball athlete and an all - conference member of the football team. It was there that he and his beloved Anita began the loving relationship that led to 74 happy and wonderful years of marriage.

Travis began his career with Southern Bell Telephone Co. in 1950 in Shreveport, La. and continued his education first at Centenary College and later at the Universities of Oklahoma, Tulane and Louisiana State. He held management assignments in New Orleans, Lafayette and Covington, Louisiana before transferring to AT&T in Atlanta, GA and subsequently to Southern Bell’s headquarters office.

From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Mills was Administrator of AT&T’s Bell System Center for Administrative Training in Atlanta, responsible for training middle and upper level Bell System operations managers from all areas of the United States and Canada. In 1976, he moved to Southern Bell’s headquarters in Atlanta and in 1980 he designed and led the company’s Management Policy Seminar for well over a thousand managers dealing with the initial implications of AT&T’s divestiture of its Operating Companies. At one time he was Network Manager for the eastern section of the Atlanta metro area. From 1984 until his retirement he dealt with regulatory matters involving Public Service Commissions in Southern Bell’s four states. He retired in 1991 with 41 years of active service.

Mr. Mills was steeped in Southern history and became an avid, amateur historian digging into the facts of his family and their times. he and his beloved wife, Anita, visited libraries, court houses and state archives all across the south and southwest, reading, recording and pursuing family connections through correspondence and records of all types. Together, they found their families’ histories from New England, Pennsylvania and Virginia in the 1600s and from the Carolinas through the South to Mexican land grants in Texas in 1832. They visited archives in England, Wales, Ireland and Germany searching for their immigrant ancestors and were still amazed, in their elderly age, at findings from their DNA. Both were longtime members of historical societies.

After retirement, Mr. Mills was an active volunteer in community work in Alpharetta, involved with early city council districting issues, YMCA development and Alpharetta’s Windward Master Plan. He led voter registration drives and property tax reform efforts in North Fulton County and was an active member of the Board of Directors of Windward Homeowners, Incorporated. He served on the initial Greenway planning committee for the City of Alpharetta and was named Volunteer of the Year by the North Metro YMCA in 1994 for his efforts in promoting a public/private partnership with the City of Alpharetta that funded construction for the Ed Isakson YMCA serving the north metro area. He served on the Alpharetta YMCA’s Board of Directors from 1994 to 2000 and was later involved in the creation of the YMCA’s Jay Levergood Teen Center. The creation of the YMCA in Alpharetta led further to the YMCA in Forsyth County and later to YMCA facilities on Lake Lanier.

Mr. Mills was a member of Alpharetta Presbyterian Church, Windward Association of Retired Men (WARM), Telephone Pioneers of America, Queensborough Masonic Lodge No. 418, F & AM and the Piedmont Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 2011 he was awarded the Windward Association of Retired Men’s Founder’s Award for 21 years of activity and service.

He was married to his wife of 74 years, Anita Coats Mills, and is survived by sons Travis James Mills of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and Thomas Scott Mills Sr. of Sandy Springs, Georgia, grandsons Travis Robert Duffley of New York, New York, Thomas Scott Mills Jr. (Olivia Dorman Mills) of Atlanta, Georgia and James Clark Mills (Ashley Newbern) of Kennesaw, Georgia, great granddaughters, Ruby Jane Mills and Madeline Mae Mills, brother Dana R. Mills of St. Louis, Missouri, sisters Mrs. D.P. Harris (Lois) of Mandeville, Louisiana, and Mrs. D. L. Fessenden (Margaret) of Hannibal, Missouri.

There will be a memorial service on Saturday July 11, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. at Alpharetta Presbyterian Church and interment will be at Srygley Family Cemetery, Johnson County Arkansas.

In lieu of flowers, Travis’ favorite charities were Alpharetta Presbyterian Church and the Alpharetta YMCA.