Gerald Wayne Mills

Gerald Wayne (Whitey) Mills of Fort Collins, Colorado, passed away peacefully at home October 28, 2014, at 64 years young of complications from MDS; a form of blood cancer.

He was born April 23, 1950 in Lebanon, KY to Eulavon (Newberry) Mills and Duward Mills. His mother being from Colorado, his family returned to Fort Collins when Gerald was 3 years old. He attended schools in Fort Collins, graduating from Poudre High School in 1969. He married Cheryl Thomas in 1974 (divorced 1983), the mother of his daughter Carrie and son Tyler. He began his career in the meat industry while in high school working at Frozen Food Center and several years as a foreman at Donoho Meat Processing under the inspection of the USDA. He was an expert butcher and meat cutter. After a 6 month consulting assignment at Callahan's Meat Processing in San Diego and a short time working at Steel's Market in the meat department, he switched sides and worked for the USDA-FSIS as an inspector primarily at Monfort's in Greeley earning several awards for his service. In his spare time he would clean, cut, grind and wrap wild game for friends. He was a meat connoisseur in every aspect, keeping family, friends and neighbors informed of all the good deals. He cut his own steaks, ground his own hamburger (80/20); made the best jerky and variety of sausages.

He owned and operated a successful watch business in the Foothills Mall. After selling that business he owned and operated holiday kiosks in the Mall for a couple of years, attending training in California and Florida on the products he sold. His interests included canning tomatoes, pickled green tomatoes, and delicious pickles. He enjoyed cooking, his specialties being prime rib, chili, green chili, and chili rellenos among others. He had a knack for finding the women far and near from whom he could buy homemade tamales. He collected knives and could swiftly and expertly sharpen a knife and straighten an edge with his eyes closed. His other interests included buying, selling, trading and collecting guns, and he was a proud member of the NRA. He was a diehard fan of Fox News, O'Reilly and Huckabee in particular. He was a true patriot. In his younger years he (and his horse) participated in calf roping, just selling his saddle in recent years, always a cowboy at heart and one would rarely see him in anything other than Wranglers (heavy starch and crease down the center). His passion was the foothills and mountains that he knew like his own back yard, having all the toys for camping, hunting, fishing, 4-wheeling. At a young age, he worked alongside his uncle blasting and building roads and skidding logs in those same foothills and mountains. Per his wishes, his ashes will be released to sail in the breeze at his favorite spot, high above a deep, beautiful valley, truly heaven on earth.

He married Sonja 23 years ago in May 1991. The first time she laid eyes on Gerald, the dreamiest guy she had ever laid eyes on, was in 1968 when Gerald and his brother, Dickey, worked for the moving company that moved Sonja's family into their home. She didn't see him again, until school started and was surprised and elated to see him again. He never paid attention to her, until they ran into each other in 1989 and started dating. She survives him along with his daughter Carrie Makloski (Tory and his sons Bailey and Riley), son Tyler, grandsons Brody and Joey Makloski, Tyler and Trevor Mills, brothers Dean Mills (Kaylene) of Lawton, OK, and Tony Mills (Judy) of Glendo, WY, sister Debbie Swartz of Fort Collins (Caleb, Tad), his brothers in-law Chip Walbye (Terri, Jason, Bryan) of Victorville, CA and Jeff Walbye (Carol, Jack) of Ft. Collins, his mother-in-law Marie Walbye of Ft. Collins, several special nieces and nephews, including nephew Tad who could call in the elk like no one Gerald had ever seen and nephew Terry Jackson of Lingle, WY (Denise, Hank and Joe). He joins his mother and father, a brother Dicky and sister Joann Jackson in Heaven.

Gerald had a good heart that earned him many friends, all whom will miss him along with his family. A special thank you to Dr. David Abbey and his nurses, Kathy and Barb for their care and sincere compassion shown to Gerald over the years and to Pathways Hospice nurse, Tonya for her care and kindness during his final days.

Please join a casual celebration of Gerald's life at 2:00 PM, Tuesday, November 11th at the Lodge at Mackenzie Place: 4750 Pleasant Oak Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Larimer County Humane Society,
Larimer County Food Bank or Pathway's Hospice, thank you.