Mills remembered for kindness, professionalism

A longtime Oktibbeha County Jurist and businessman died over the weekend.

Former District 3 Justice Court Judge Jim Mills died Sunday morning following an illness. Mills served on the bench from 1972 to 1984, and again from 2012 to 2016, when he was unseated by current District 3 Justice Court Judge Marty Haug. Mills also served on the Starkville Board of Aldermen, and was respected as a businessman and property manager.

Republican State Rep. Rob Roberson, who practices law in Starkville, reflected on how Mills would be remembered.

“Judge Mills was such a pillar of the community, and has been involved in our government as an alderman, and then was involved with our justice system for so long,” Roberson said. “Honestly, it's hard to believe that he's passed, but he was a really decent man. The community will miss him dearly, and I send all the condolences to his family.”

District 1 Justice Court Judge Tony Boykin Jr. knew Mills for more than 40 years. For much of that time, the two served alongside each other.

“He held his court, and I held mine, but he was always very professional in his decisions,” Boykin said. “He was just a good man. He was a businessman, and he was proud of the fact. He called himself a businessman, and he was really sincere about what he did.”

Boykin said Mills was always gracious.

“As far as I was concerned, he was just a good man,” Boykin said. “He'll be missed in the community. He'll be missed in the court system also. He helped a lot of people in a lot of different ways.”

Boykin said he could not pick out a single memory of Mills as being his favorite, but said he had numerous good memories of Mills.

“I just had a great relationship with him,” Mills said. “He came from some good folks.”

Deputy justice court clerk Lynn Williams remembered Mills' kindness toward the clerks. She said even after he was unseated by Haug, he would still sometimes come by the Justice Court and take the clerks to lunch at Umi or Applebee's.

“All he wanted to do was help people,” Williams said. “He wanted to try to help people as best he could.”

“We never wanted for nothing when Judge Mills was up here,” Williams said.

She remembered Mills working hard to get the justice court building's parking lot paved.

“It was so torn up, and he kept calling morning after morning, but he got our parking lot fixed, because us ladies, we wear heels, and when we came across the

parking lot, we would almost fall,” Williams said. “He would notice that, and he said ‘no, I'm not going to have this. He sat back there in that kitchen, and he made all kinds of phone calls, and I'll tell you what, they got over here and fixed our parking lot.”

She said Mills placed great importance on getting the job done.

“He loved us, and we loved him,” Williams said. “He loved the justice court. This was his life.”

She offered her condolences to Mills' wife and daughter.

Visitation is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. Thursday at Welch Funeral Home with a memorial service following immediately after.