Physician David McConnell Mills, who died Sept. 18 in Colorado Springs at age 75, specialized in rheumatology, an interest prompted partly by observing his mother, who endured chronic pain from suffering rheumatic fever as a child.
His mother, Frances McConnell-Mills, was a physician celebrated in Colorado as a pioneer toxicologist and forensic pathologist.
The cases she investigated throughout the West often made headlines, especially when they involved murder.
McConnell-Mills never fully recuperated from rheumatic fever, which left her with an enlarged heart and chronic respiration problems.
David Mills grew up in Denver and graduated from East High School, where he earned a reputation as an exceptionally dedicated student. Memorizing physics and chemistry data for quizzes led to hands-on experiments that he conducted in the family basement.
After graduating from the University of Denver and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Mills met his wife while he served a fellowship in rheumatology in Memphis, Tenn.
He continued his research in rheumatology and electron microscopy at the New York University Medical Center and taught at the University of Tennessee and then the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
During his tenure at CU, he was acting chief of rheumatology at the medical school, which put Mills in touch with chronically ill patients at the nearby Veterans Administration hospital.
He routinely visited veterans who had no family nearby. He often sat up with dying soldiers, holding their hands.
“I think he always felt a little guilty about never being called to serve in the military,” said his wife, Mary.
“Everywhere we lived, he worked or volunteered at the veterans hospital. He was always telling me how much he liked to talk to those patients because they told him such funny jokes and great stories. Some of them were kinda like family. When the kids were really small, we’d visit the patients who’d become good friends.”
Mills left Colorado in 1975 to help start a medical school in Lubbock, Texas. The Mills family frequently returned to Colorado to visit, despite the hostile reactions that their Texas license plates provoked as soon as they crossed the Colorado state line.
Mills was relieved to install Colorado plates on his car when he and his wife moved back to the Centennial State, where they built a home in Black Forest. He became active with the local Red Cross and sang in the Monument Presbyterian Church choir.
Besides his wife and sister, survivors include his daughter, Molly Frauenhoff of Littleton; sons Jon Mills of Monument and William Mills of San Francisco; and seven grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial donations to Springs Rescue Mission at springsrescuemission .com.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
