Travis W. Mills
Born in Bagnell, Miller County, Missouri July 6, 1932, he was the son of Travis B. Mills of Miller Co. Arkansas and Mary Zula Holloman Mills of Robertson Co. Texas, both descendants of early pioneer families. He spent his formative years in Wagoner, Oklahoma, began his career with Southern Bell Telephone Co. in 1950 in Shreveport, La. and continued his education at Centenary College, the Universities of Oklahoma, Tulane and Louisiana State. He held management assignments in New Orleans, Lafayette and Covington, La. before transferring to AT&T in Atlanta, GA.
From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Mills was Administrator of AT&T’s Bell System Center for Administrative Training in Atlanta, responsible for training middle and upper level Bell System operations managers from all areas of the United States and Canada in operational methods and procedures. In 1976, he moved to Southern Bell’s headquarters in Atlanta with companywide operational responsibilities and was later Network Manager for the eastern section of the Atlanta metro area. From 1984 until his retirement, he was Operations Manager at Southern Bell headquarters with regulatory responsibilities in their four states. He retired with 41 years of active service.
Mr. Mills was steeped in Southern history. One of his early grandfathers settled in Anne Arundel County, Maryland prior to 1690, several others in Virginia in 1670. Another was in the Natchez, Mississippi area in 1790 and his Mills ancestors were in Pennsylvania in 1680 before their migration to Virginia and then further south. His maternal ancestors settled in Texas when, in 1832, it was part of Mexico. They received land grants from Mexico in what is now Leon County. His ancestors spread across the South from Virginia and Maryland to the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas, and many were soldiers for their country, their states, and their regions.
He has a wide-ranging interest in history and was led, at an early age, to become an avid, amateur historian digging into the facts of his family and their times. He and his beloved companion and wife, Anita, visited libraries, courthouses, and state archives all across the south and southwest, constantly reading and pursuing family connections through correspondence and records of all types. Early on in his working career, he developed skills with computers, software, and the internet and used them extensively in his studies of history and genealogy.
After retirement, Mr. Mills was an active volunteer in community work in Alpharetta, involved with early city council districting issues, YMCA development, and Alpharetta’s Windward Master Plan. He led voter registration drives and property tax reform efforts in North Fulton County and was an active member of the Board of Directors of Windward Homeowners, Incorporated, and he served on the initial Greenway planning committee for the City of Alpharetta. He was named Volunteer of the Year by the North Metro YMCA in 1994 for his efforts in promoting a public/private partnership with the City of Alpharetta that funded construction for the Ed Isakson YMCA. He served on the Alpharetta YMCA’s Board of Directors from 1994 to 2000 and was later involved in the creation of the YMCA’s Jay Levergood Teen Center. The creation of the YMCA in Alpharetta led further to the YMCA in Forsyth County and later to YMCA facilities on Lake Lanier.
Mr. Mills was a member of Alpharetta Presbyterian Church, Windward Association of Retired Men (WARM), Telephone Pioneers of America, Queensborough Masonic Lodge No. 418, F & AM and the Piedmont Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 2011, he was awarded the Windward Association of Retired Men’s Founder’s Award for 21 years of activity and service.
He was married to his wife of 74 years, Anita Coats Mills, and is survived by sons Travis James Mills of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and Thomas Scott Mills Sr. of Sandy Springs, Georgia, grandsons Travis Robert Duffley of New York, New York, Thomas Scott Mills Jr. (Olivia Dorman Mills) of Atlanta, Georgia and James Clark Mills (Ashley Newbern) of Kennesaw, Georgia, great granddaughters, Ruby Jane Mills and Madeline Mae Mills, brother Dana R. Mills of St. Louis, Missouri, sisters Mrs. D.P. Harris (Lois) of Mandeville, Louisiana, and Mrs. D. L. Fessenden (Margaret) of Hannibal, Missouri.
Services will be held on Saturday, June 27, 2026, at 11:00 am, for a graveside service at Srygley Cemetery, Johnson County, AR. A memorial service will follow on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 11:00 am at Alpharetta Presbyterian Church, located at 180 Academy Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.