Elma B. Mills, long time St. John school teacher, passed away Saturday, May 26, 2012 at the Whitman Health & Rehab Center in Colfax. She was 97. A graveside service will be at 10:30 am Friday, June 1st, at the St. John Cemetery followed by a memorial service at the St. John Christian Church at 11:00 am. Viewing will be Thursday from 9 to 5 at Bruning Funeral Home in Colfax. Elma was born September 18, 1914 in Steptoe, Washington to Charles and Grace (Tolett) Parrish. She grew up between Thornton and Sunset and attended school in Sunset. Elma graduated from high school when she was only 16. She went to Cheney Normal School and completed her teaching certificate. She later went back and received her Bachelor's degree. Her first teaching assignment was at the Matlock School west of Thornton and later she taught at Sunset. She married her longtime friend and neighbor, Asa Mills, in Colfax May 2, 1936. They moved to Mansfield, Washington where their family was started. Son Dan was born first followed a few years later by son Dennis. Elma stopped teaching to raise her boys and she enjoyed being a homemaker and mother. The family moved back to St. John in 1944. Asa farmed in the area and later he worked in the grocery store and drove school bus for many years. In 1952 Elma went back to teaching. She taught in St. John for over 25 years before retiring. Following retirement she taught at the Steptoe School a little bit too. Elma loved working in the flower beds around her home. She and Asa also liked to camp and spent over thirty years camping in the Methow Valley. They had fun times in the Potholes and at Newman Lake too. She was a member of the Eastern Star and had gone through all the offices. Asa passed away in 1990. Elma is survived by 2 sons; Dan and wife Monna Mills of Clarkston and Dennis Mills of Cheney; her sister, Edna Countryman of St. John; 3 granddaughters, 2 grandsons, 8 great-granddaughters, 5 great-grandsons and 1 great-great-grandson as well as numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a daughter-in-law, Patricia Mills; a grandson Kevin Mills and 2 brothers, Earl and Boyd Parrish.
Bruning Funeral Home of Colfax is caring for the family.