David H. Mills Obituary (1935 - 2017)

August 22, 2017 - Waterville, Maine - Colby Professor Emeritus David H. Mills died peacefully at his Waterville home, surrounded by friends, colleagues, former students, relatives, books, and music. A 1957 Colby Phi Beta Kappa graduate and member of Colby's English Faculty since 1984, Mills taught English, public speaking, theater, Italian, and debate to thousands of students. He retired in 2016, at age 81. A student of the art of pedagogy, Mills continually sought to improve his own teaching style and shared his love of learning with everyone he met. Of special academic interest to David Mills, was the subject of debate, where he served as the faculty advisor to Colby's Debate team for three decades. Debaters met twice weekly to practice, and often competed well in highly competitive regional debate tournaments. He established and directed Colby's Center for Teaching to support faculty in sharing new teaching approaches, as well as working with the Farnham Writers' Center. He will be well remembered for the dynamism of his public speaking classes that required students to speak extemporaneously on an eclectic variety of topics, ranging from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the death penalty. Indicative of his dedication to the art of teaching was his habit of memorizing the names of incoming students and reading their college application essays. For the past 32 years, he was famous for hosting generations of students, past and present, at his home for gourmet dinners and playing bridge. These gatherings, planned around food and cards, evolved into an informal curriculum complementing his Colby classes. During these weekly events, Mills shared his love of cooking, classical music, debate, art, and languages, and also his love of the greater Waterville area, leading them on trips to Webb Lake, Monmouth Theater, Damariscotta, and antique and second-hand stores. The friendships created at these informal meetings over the years, resulted in Mills' participation in numerous weddings of former students. Born in 1935 in Worcester, MA, to Elsa Lindberg and Thomas Mills Jr, he grew up in Holden, MA, until attending Colby on a Mayflower Scholarship. Just before his freshman year at Colby, the 1953 Worcester tornado leveled the family home. As a Colby student, Mills wrote, performed, and directed many plays. During Colby summer breaks he acted at the Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT. Sixty years later, he was able to recount all characters and lines from eight of his plays. After Colby, he earned masters' degrees at the University of Illinois and Harvard University, where he spent 6 years acting and directing dramas and musicals. In the 1960's he briefly taught English composition at Wheaton College in Norton, MA, before moving to Rome, Italy, to work in the movie industry. For the next 15 years he worked as an actor, wrote dialogue, and dubbed movies into English, mostly spaghetti westerns. After first teaching at Colby in 1980-81, he returned to Italy to write the English dialogue for Sergio Leone's last film, Once Upon a Time in America, and to work on a miniseries about Columbus that was filmed in Spain. At his Colby retirement dinner, Mills quoted Henry Adams, saying "Teachers affect eternity. There's no knowing where their influence stops." Mills is survived by legions of students, colleagues, and friends whom he has inspired both inside and outside the classroom. Plans for a memorial service will be shared as they become available Services are under the direction and care of Gallant Funeral Home, 10 Elm Street, Waterville. An online guestbook may be signed and condolences expressed at www.gallantfh.com Memorial contributions in honor of David Mills can be made to: The Farnham Writers' Center, George Murray Debate Society, or The Colby Fund Colby College, 173 Main St. Waterville, ME 04901. www.colby.edu/giving