Raymond Isaac Mills Former Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa 1956-1957

 Raymond Isaac Mills (1899–1987)

While tracing the line from Peter Mills and Mary Stanley through their sons Elias and Isaac, I discovered that Raymond Isaac Mills—Elias’s son and my 2nd grandmother Sarah Elizabeth Mills’s cousin—had almost no recorded family story.

It moved me to realize that a man who served his city so faithfully had not yet had his life shared within our family history. I felt strongly that his story needed to be written so future generations of the Mills family would know him and honor his life.

Raymond Isaac Mills (1899–1987), son of Elias Mills and Mary Jane Breece of Warren County, Iowa, was the nephew of Isaac Josephe Mills. Isaac Josephe Mills was the father of Sarah Elizabeth Mills, my 2nd grandmother. Therefore, Raymond Isaac Mills was my 2nd grandmother’s first cousin.

Raymond's Story: 

Raymond Isaac Mills was born April 2, 1899, near Liberty Center in Warren County, Iowa, the son of Elias Mills and Mary Jane Breece. He came from a long line of Midwestern pioneers. His grandfather, Peter Mills—known as “Peter Mills the hatter”—was born about 1796 and moved from Warren County, Indiana, to Iowa in 1847. Peter’s son Elias grew up in Jefferson County, Iowa, bound out to a Quaker farmer named Joel Paxton, and later fought bravely in the Civil War with the 13th Iowa Infantry, serving at Shiloh and marching with Sherman to the sea.

After the war Elias became a successful farmer, stockman, banker, and civic leader in Warren County. He married Mary Jane Breece, and among their children was Raymond Isaac Mills. Thus Raymond was born into a family known for hard work, military service, and public responsibility.

Raymond grew up on Iowa farmland but moved to Des Moines as a young man. During the Great Depression he joined the bakery drivers‑salesmen’s union and quickly rose through the labor movement, eventually becoming president of Teamsters Joint Council No. 45 and administrator of the Iowa State Federation of Labor.

In 1950 he was elected to the Des Moines City Council, and in 1956 he became mayor. He represented working families during a period of rapid growth in the city.

In August 1952 Raymond was struck with polio and was paralyzed. Doctors feared he would die, but after months of therapy at Warm Springs, Georgia, he learned to walk again with braces and crutches. Friends sometimes carried his wheelchair up City Council steps, but he never let his disability stop him.

Raymond married Rose, and they had one son, Eugene Ramon Mills, a World War II Navy veteran and civil engineer, who married Colleen Shugart and raised daughters Vickie, Janet, and Debra.

In 1961 declining health forced Raymond to retire from politics. He moved to Florida and worked as an information officer for the U.S. Department of Labor, later returning to Iowa to live in Jewell. He died June 6, 1987, at age 88 and was buried in Ames Municipal Cemetery.

Raymond Isaac Mills carried forward the legacy of Peter Mills the hatter and Civil War veteran Elias Mills. His life of labor leadership, public service, perseverance, and devotion to family stands as an important chapter in the Mills family history of Iowa.

Mills Meets New Grandchild
(photo caption)
Ray Mills, 50, president of the Iowa State Federation of Labor and Des Moines city councilman, has arms full of grandchildren as he gets acquainted with month-old Janet Jean, whom he had not seen before, and reacquainted with Vickie Lynn, 3½, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Mills. Mrs., a victim of polio, arrived home Saturday after four months as a patient at Warm Springs, Ga.

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Raymond Mills President of the Iowa State Federation of Labor 

and Des Moines city councilman

The Des Moines Register

Des Moines, Iowa

Sun, May 3, 1953 · Page 16

“I’m Over the Hump,” Mills Says of His Polio Battle
By Nick Lamberto
A 50-year-old labor leader and city councilman came back home Saturday, confident he is winning his battle against polio—a battle that began 8 months ago.
It was last Aug. 18 when Ray Mills, president of the Iowa State Federation of Labor and Des Moines city councilman, was stricken by polio.
He was paralyzed from the neck down.
“Over the Hump.”
But Saturday, Ray relaxed in an easy chair at his home at 1519 Osceola ave., and recounted the progress made during his more than four months at Warm Springs, Ga. He can walk with crutches now.
“I’m over the hump,” Mills said. “I’ll be able to do everything I did before.”
Mills and his wife drove from Warm Springs to Des Moines, a 1,000-mile trip, in four days. Mrs. Mills did all the driving.
One of the persons Mills was most eager to see was his new granddaughter, Janet Jean Mills, just a month old.
Ray’s only son, Eugene, and his family are living at the Mills’ residence temporarily. Eugene just went to work a week ago for the state highway commission at Ames. Before that he lived at Topeka, Kan.
On Hand.
Ray’s other granddaughter, Vickie Lynn, 3½, was also on hand to welcome her granddad.
“I’m eager to attend my first council meeting next Monday,” Mills said. “I haven’t got anything to raise a stink about yet—guess that’ll be new if I don’t. I haven’t any comment on the present building trade strike—I don’t know enough about the situation.”
“I do have some opinions about the proposed zoning ordinance before the city council.”
“Out of Business.”
“According to what I’ve read about an entire section owns a grocery store and the store burns down, he’s out of business for life. He can’t remodel, he can’t anything.”
“It seems like a slow process of elimination. There’s no union involved (Mills paused and chuckled) but it just doesn’t seem right.”
“I’m not against a zoning ordinance, just parts of it that can be modified.”
Strict Diet.
Mills was put on a strict diet by the doctors at Warm Springs.
He has lost a pound and a half a week and now weighs 170 pounds.
“I’m still supposed to lose another 10 pounds,” Mills said. “Every pound I take off it’s that much easier to walk.”
“It’s still awfully slow walking. I just barely hobble. But it’s so much better than when I started.”
Mills uses special crutches and braces made of aluminum and leather. The braces weigh 7 pounds.
“I have no knee muscles,” Mills explained. “These braces help keep my knees locked and protect what muscles I have.”
Really Strong.
“My arm muscles are really strong now and first my arm and stomach muscles were paralyzed—everything from the neck down. You keep improving with time, I guess.”
“Several muscles that help keep my balance were gone, so I had to develop new muscles. That’s where underwater therapy and muscle stretching exercises help.”
Mills was hospitalized last Aug. 25 after being ill 10 weeks before. He left Des Moines for Warm Springs Dec. 20, the trip arranged by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
“Des Moines looked wonderful when we hit town,” Mills said. “I’m eager for the council meeting. I’m not going to confine myself to the back yard.”

“And I’m running for re-election as state labor president.”