Kathleen Matheson Mills 1937-1995

 

It sure was fun sitting around the fire sharing stories yesterday.  It is not too late to send them to me.  Reply to this email, text or call and I'll do a phone interview, or complete this form.

I have been working on a TImeline of events that isn't quite complete.  In the process, I have asked and been given the stories of how our parents'/grandparents' met and married. I love how these siblings were so integral in each other's love lives.

Since this week I am looking at stories from the Glen Mills branch of the tree, allow me to share a little of what Uncle Glen has shared with me.  Since Uncle Glen does not have internet, I go visit him every few weeks and give him a printed copy of what I have mailed out since our last visit.  Then we have a nice chat.

 

Kathleen Matheson Mills 1937-1995

From Interviews with Glen Mills by Valerie Mills Hunt

Glen met Kathy when he was still in high school.  The baseball team would often go to the same diner after games and Kathy worked there.  That is where they first met.

After Mavin and Loa married on 24 May 1959, they were living in an apartment complex in Salt Lake.   Glen moved in the same complex and met Nancy.  That meeting led to the eventual marriages of Glen to Nancy, Len to Deanna and Cline to Rena.

Glen and Nancy married in Tabiona in March of 1960.

Nancy's brother Ferrell became friends and roommates with Len and Cline.  Nancy and Ferrell were from Tabiona, Utah.  While visiting Tabiona with Ferrell, Len saw Deanna.  (See the post from March 21st entitled "Thoughts from the Mills Brothers on Smoking.")  They married 19 August 1961.

Rena married Deanna's older brother Dale 6 June 1962.  Dale was killed in a car accident that also took the life of their oldest daughter.  On the 8 January 1965, Rena was widowed and had lost both of her daughters.  In 1966, Deanna asked Rena if she would be willing to date Cline.  She agreed.  Coming home from Lorna Gail's wedding to Wilford Lou Nielson on 27 Aug 1966, Cline proposed to Rena.

By 1970, Glen and Nancy separated. They had three children, Ruben "Ben" was born 31 October 1960; Donald J was born  25 February 1962 and Elizabeth was born in May of 1968 and Nancy and Glen separated with Glen having custody of the children.  Glen was working on the buiilding of a power plant out of town in Paige, AZ and during the week, Elizabeth stayed with Cline, Rena and daughters Valerie.  Pam was born that year.  The boys stayed with Mavin & Loa and family for a school year and with Deanna and Len over the summer.

When asked, Glen said that he thought the decline of their marriage was due to Nancy's guilt over the loss of Ben's eye.  One day Nancy was upset that she was going to be late to work.  Ben was trying to get a knot out of his shoe.  Nancy was yelling at him to hurry.  He grabbed a knife to cut the shoelace since untying the knot was not working.  As he pulled the knife up to cut the shoe lace the force of the motion sent the knife into his eye. 

Glen had understood that Nancy was taking Ben to the doctor.  He said the appointment was on the calendar and she had told him that was the case.  After a week had gone by and Ben's eye was looking worse not better, Glen became involved.  By the time Ben went to the eye doctor, infection had set in to the point that he was in danger of losing both eyes and they had to remove the injured eye and replace it with a glass eye.

After this, Glen described Nancy as going crazy.  That the abuse of the boys and the dishonesty destroyed their marriage.  In those days, it was especially difficult for the father to gain custody.  The divorce took a couple years to be finalized.  Nancy moved to California and has not been heard from since the 1980's.

After they separated, Glen ran into Kathy in Arizona.  She was divorced with two children: Edward and Sabrina.  They hit it off.  After 6-8 momths, Kathy and the children moved in to an apartment across the street from Rena and Cline. 

Kathy and Glen married on 26 May 1971 at the courthouse in Salt Lake on the same day his divorce from Nancy was finalized.  They moved into the house in Lehi later that year.

Glen talks fondly of Kathy and how hard she worked to raise a family of five children.  She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) three years into their marriage.  Glen treated Eddy and Sabrina as his own children.  The kids all grew up, moved out and established their own families.

In the 1990's, Kathy's M.S. progressed to the point where she required 100% care.  Glen hired two women to take care of her during the time he was working.  The two women worked out their schedules so that one of them was always with Kathy.

One day while Glen was at work, Sabrina came and took Kathy to her home.  Kathy felt that she had become a burden to Glen and did not want that for him.  Sabrina hired the same women to care for Kathy at her home.  After months of separation, Kathy asked if she could come back home and Glen welcomed her happily.

Months later, however, Kathy was taken to Sabrina's again.  This time, Glen granted the divorce.  Not long after the divorce was final, Kathy died under suspicious circumstances on 28 September 1995.  Before Ed could stop it through legal means, Kathy was cremated and no services were held that our family was aware of.

Glen speaks fondly of Kathy to this day and hopes to be with her in the eternities.  He wants Kathy and his family to know that he wants to be with her forever.

Please let me know if you have additional information or have your own story to add to the book.

Until next time,

Valerie