Alice Kent Mills

MILLS, Alice Kent, 95, of Rocky Mount, died peacefully at home on March 10, 2013. She was born in Wirtz, Virginia, on April 4, 1917, to Rose Martin and Robert Lee Kent. Alice graduated from William & Mary College in 1936 to the age of 19. She was a highly gifted educator who began her career in Sontag as the teacher of a group of senior high boys just a few years younger than herself. Her lifetime career was extensive, working with students in elementary through college level. Her specialties were reading, writing skills, and math; but she frequently extended her services to privately tutor students in subjects such as calculus and foreign language. Alice received numerous accolades and letters of gratitude over the years from former students thanking her for providing the foundation that made it possible for them to graduate from college. Alice’s passion for travel, reading and bridge extended throughout her life.
She was predeceased in death by her husband, William (”Willie”) Mills, Jr., and is survived by her sister, Hilda Morris, Rocky Mount; two daughters and sons-in-law, Sara and Claude Francescott, The Woodlands, TX, and Lynn and Richard Poff, Tullahoma, TN; and two sons and a daughter-in-law, Bob and Karen Mills, Ferrum, and Jim Mills, Rocky Mount. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Roseanne and Peter Jacob, Mitch (”Ben”) Bowman, Matt and Natalie Mills, Laura and Matt Ellis, Thomas Mills, Gabriel Mills, Ryan Poff, and Austin Poff; and her great-grandchildren, Drew Jacob and Ali Jacob.
The family will be receiving friends from 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening at Flora Funeral Service, Rocky Mount. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. at Flora Funeral Service with the Rev. Bruce Tuttle officiating. Interment will follow in Franklin Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to Carilion Clinic Hospice-Franklin County, 180 Floyd Avenue, Rocky Mount, VA or to Parkinson’s Foundation, 1501 N.W. 9th Avenue, Miami, FL 33136.