Robert Howard “Bob” Mills was born in Washington, DC on November 3, 1937 to Lou and Kay Mills and was raised in Bethesda, MD through high school. His father, a USNA ’35 graduate, encouraged him to apply to the Naval Academy but, when his eyes failed to qualify, he requested his appointment be changed to West Point, and he was accepted into the USMA Class of 1959. A medical issue deferred him to the Class of 1960 after his plebe year.
Bob’s roommate during firstie year was Chip Fenton, who met Bob as a “recognized plebe” when they joined Company C-1 the fall of 1956. Bob’s companymates, as well as Chip, benefited considerably from Bob’s status and experience as his having already “been there and done that” during his second round with plebe year, but without the associated harassment and de rigueur of the plebe system. Bob was an academic and “plebe system” mentor for his companymates and likely contributed to the survival of plebe year for some of his companymates. Bob and Chip developed a significant friendship during their first three years and chose to be roommates firstie year. Chip credited Bob with his helpful advice and support while Chip served as the C-1 company commander. Their friendship ultimately included “significant others” during cadet years and extended to a lifelong relationship. Just prior to graduation, Bob orchestrated a practical joke by arranging for Chip to take a blind date to the Spring Hop just two months before his marriage to Dee Stambaugh. The blind date turned out to be Dee herself! After a short time in the dog house, Chip was reconciled with Dee and the couple enjoyed the hop. Bob was forgiven and was best man at their June wedding. Bob’s and Chip’s careers never crossed, but they stayed in touch and renewed their friendship at the class reunions they attended through the years. Bob, true to his covert CIA association, continued to present himself as a Department of State careerist until after his retirement. Bob’s passing was a loss for Chip, who describes Bob as a “great roommate, an enduring friend who is profoundly missed.”
Ten days after graduation, Bob married his One and Only, Jane Eagar. That fall they reported to Fort Belvoir, VA for the Engineer Officer Basic Course, followed by Fort Benning, GA training and subsequent assignment to the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, WA, where their daughter Jennifer was born in 1962. The next assignment was an unaccompanied road-building tour in Thailand. Following the Thailand assignment, the Corps of Engineers programmed him for graduate school in nuclear engineering instead of his preference for a management oriented advanced degree. At this time, as a major life turning point, he resigned from the Army and entered the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. As an additional life deflection, he and Jane ended their marriage.
Upon graduation from Wharton, Bob joined the U.S. Foreign Service to begin an ostensive Department of State career. His initial assignment was teaching Thai officials management skills under the auspices of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Prior to departure for this assignment he married a fellow foreign service officer, Gena Davis.
Bob described his and Gena’s “foreign service” careers in the 30th Reunion Yearbook but years later revealed their actual service with the Central Intelligence Agency, where they served their country together for 29 years at nine posts on four continents. He had a notable assignment in 1983 as chief, Political Section, U.S. Embassy, Afghanistan. Following too many years of living apart on their imposed separated postings, they retired to La Jolla, CA.
After indulging himself time to tweak his golf game, Bob launched a follow-on retirement career by parlaying the pilot license earned in New Zealand into a position at a company producing flight-training materials, rising over the next seven years to director of sales. When that position evolved to require more commitment than he wished, he applied his CIA background and experience to short term government contract assignments in various overseas locations.
Over the years, Bob and Gena had acquired a large “bucket list” of places they had not experienced and began indulging in the travel and adventure involved in working on the list. They spent several weeks each year in Europe with other trips to remote areas in South America, Africa, and Antarctica, as well as frequent visits to the California and Mexico wine regions while often visiting Bob’s daughter, Jennifer, and two granddaughters, Whitney and Margaret.
Bob lived a full and remarkable life and felt he had been blessed with wonderful family and friends, a rewarding career and active retirement. Gena passed away in May 2016 and Bob joined “the shadows” of the Long Gray Line on July 22, 2017, “May it be said, ‘Well Done, Be Thou at Peace.’” They would have been married 50 years on October 2, 2017, and surely there was music and joy in the Great Hereafter to celebrate their Golden Wedding Jubilee. “Grip hands tho’ it be from the shadows.”