Leonard Evan Mills

Leonard was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa on March 11, 1929 and grew up the oldest of six children during the Great Depression as well as the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. At the age of 14, his family moved to Loveland, Colorado where he resided for the remainder of his life. He graduated from Loveland High School in 1947.

At the age of 16, he began to learn his trade as a machinist apprenticing under his father in his father’s machine shop (Mills Machine Works). In 1951, at the age of 22, he was drafted into the US Army for the Korean War. Recognizing his skills and background in machining, the US Army assigned him to be a Small Arms Mechanic. He was stationed in Anchorage Alaska, achieving the rank of Corporal. After his service in the US Army, Leonard returned to Loveland and worked in his father’s machine shop for many years honing his skills and becoming a Tool & Die Maker specializing in fabrication of molds for plastic injection molding. At the age of 71, he retired as a Tool & Die Supervisor from Allegheny Teledyne after 22 years of service.

On June 29, 1963, he married the love of his life, Leloni (Scriven) Mills and together they had four children, Rebecca, Mark, Michael, and Jonathan.

Leonard managed to excel at everything he tried and he tried a lot of different things. In the late 1940's, Leonard played the guitar for weekly dances at the Townson Club in Loveland, CO with his father, Sherman on the lead fiddle, his brother, Howard, on the banjo, a friend of Sherman’s, on second fiddle and the friend's wife on the piano. Leonard painted a number of very good oil paintings which hung in the old house on West 4th street in Loveland for many years before his mother and father both died. Having a keen eye for precision and detail, Leonard enjoyed making detailed scale models from scratch, often drawing his own plans to make ships, airplanes, trains and cars. A skilled mechanic, he prided himself in always working on his own vehicles and seldom took his vehicles to a professional mechanic. His other passions included photography. He had his own darkroom where he developed and processed his own photographic works and often was hired as a free-lance photographer for weddings and portraits.

Integrity and strength of character were things he valued highly and taught his children, as was raising them in in strong Christian faith. As a member for many years of Galilee Baptist Church, Leonard served on several church committees and as a Deacon. His favorite role however, was teaching children in Sunday School.

Leonard leaves behind, a daughter, Rebecca (James) Sharp, three sons, Mark (Wendy) Mills, Rev. Michael (Melba) Mills. and Jonathan (Jennifer) Mills. He also leaves behind two brothers Howard Mills, and Richard (Kathy) Mills. He had nine grandchildren: Courtney (Zach) Sharp, Derek Sharp, Tiffany (Chris) King, Ryan (Leah) Mills, Alyssa Mills, Jenna Mills, Rachel Mills, Roger Mills, and Alexandria Mills; and six great-grandchildren: Tilen Mills, Madeleine Mills, Lachlan Mills, Atticus Mills, John Helak and Noah Iniguez, along with numerous nieces and nephews.

Those who preceded him in death and welcomed him to his heavenly home include his beloved wife of 61 years, Leloni (Scriven) Mills, his parents, Sherman and Mary (Mitts) Mills, a brother Edward Mills, and sisters Eleanor (Mills) Millis, and Eileen Mills.

In lieu of a memorial service, his children will hold a private cremains scattering at a later date.