Obituary of Ralph Mills

Ralph Reicker Mills departed our presence on November 25, 2019.  

Ralph had been suffering from dementia for 3 years and was unable to fight off pneumonia for a third time.  He was a gentleman to the end, always kind and polite to those around him, even offering his wheelchair to people when they did not have a seat.  

Ralph was born on 4 September 1936 to Edna Louise and Ralph Reicker Mills in Jackson, Mississippi.  Mary Ann, his sister, was born 5 years later.  As a young family, the Mills moved several times due to the nature of Ralph senior’s work in P&G sales.

Ralph attended high school in Greenwood, Mississippi and very much enjoyed his time there, making friends and friendships that lasted decades.  

Ralph enjoyed attending the reunion weekends and traveled to Greenwood on an annual basis in his 70s.  After high school, Ralph attended the University of Mississippi obtaining an undergraduate degree in accounting and joining the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.  He then went to join the US Airforce as an accountant and was assigned to Tokyo, Japan for 3 years.  

It was then that he met his wife of 55 years, Masako K. Mills.  Ralph returned to Mississippi to obtain his Masters degree in Business Accounting and returned to Japan to marry Masako in July 1964.  Ralph and Masako enjoyed 8 years in New Orleans, Louisiana and had their daughter, Patricia Miwa in July 1971.  After a short assignment in New York with PriceWaterHouse, the young Mills family settled in Dallas, Texas.  Ralph was a hard worker, prioritising work and family and rose to the position of CFO for Grace Energy Corporation.  He retired from Grace and started work for a startup company, Ball Semiconductor as CFO until he finally retired at the age of 78.  Ralph dearly missed the work routine and started to slow down, sadly, due to dementia.  

Ralph enjoyed eating at restaurants, saw his daughter married in Wynne Chapel and visited London several times after the birth of his grandson, Andrew.  

Richard, a groomsman for Tim and Miwa’s wedding, wrote the following after hearing of Ralph’s passing:

The first time I met Pete was at your wedding, he's the kind of guy who makes you feel instantly comfortable in his company and I found him very easy to talk to, he even took me for a drive of the neighbourhood to show me some of the fancy houses which was very kind. I just felt that even though he was someone who had achieved a lot in his life he knew that the small stuff and good human relationships was important.