Laura Jane (Fisher) Mills

LAURA JANE (FISHER) MILLS Laura Jane (Fisher) Mills of Bloomington died Thursday, November 3, at IU Health Bloomington Hospital with her family and several close friends at her side. She was born September 21, 1923, in Montezuma, Kansas, to Arthur Andrew and Hilda (Wilson) Fisher. She grew up in Copeland, Kansas, and married her high school sweetheart, Dean Mills, at Fort Warren, Cheyenne, Wyoming, on February 4, 1945. After the war they lived for a time in New York City, while he attended graduate school at Columbia University. They then lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and subsequently moved to Wheaton, Illinois, in the early 1950s. They lived in Wheaton and Glen Ellyn, Illinois, for nearly 40 years. Education and learning were her lifelong passions. She graduated from Copeland High School and Dodge City Junior College and then completed her undergraduate degree at Fort Hays Kansas State Teachers College in Hays, KS. She later earned her Master’s in education from National College of Education in Evanston, IL. She taught school in Kansas, New York, Michigan, and Illinois. Her last teaching position before retirement was in special education at Hadley Junior High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She loved teaching, and her students loved her. She moved to Bloomington in 1989 to be closer to her daughter Mary, and then to Meadowood Retirement Community in 2000 (at “the turn of the century,” she liked to say). She thoroughly enjoyed the many activities and wonderful people at Meadowood, and she often said that there was no place where she would be happier. She and Mary loved to travel together, and they usually had at least one upcoming “adventure” in the planning stages. She is survived by her daughter, Mary (Mark) Belding, of Bloomington; her brother, Tony (Joyce) Fisher of Copeland, KS; her sister, Judykay (Ken) Kohler of Charlotte, NC, and several nieces and nephews who were very dear to her. She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, and her sisters Adeline Fisher Beck, Bea Fisher Alexander, and Florence Fisher. She was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the Bloomington Argonaut Club, and several book clubs. She became an alumna initiate member of Theta Chapter of Sigma Kappa Sorority in 2006. She was interested in genealogy for most of her life, and she relished working the crossword puzzle every day. Special thanks to her loyal “Musketeer” friends, as well as to the professional and compassionate nursing staff of the Progressive Care Unit at the hospital. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, November 10, at 11:00am at Trinity Episcopal Church, 111 S. Grant Street, Bloomington. Family will receive friends from 10:00am until the service. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Laura Mills may be made to the Second Century Fund, Trinity Episcopal Church, 111 S. Grant Street, Bloomington, IN 47408

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Laura Jane (Fisher) Mills

September 21, 1923 - November 3, 2016