Utanah Ellen Mills

Utanah passed away peacefully at her home in Murray, Utah on March 7, 2012 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

Utanah, loving wife and mother, was born July 22, 1931, in Bicknell, Utah to Ellen Elizabeth Rymer Morrill and Robert Merlin Morrill. They made their home at a ranch in Fish Creek, Wayne, Utah. When she was about the age 5, she and her parents moved to Delta, Utah. Delta became her home until she went to Cedar City, Utah to attend college, which was known at that time as the Branch Agricultural College. She served there as a member of the Phi Alpha Beta sorority.

On March 19, 1951 she married James R. Mills, in the Manti Temple. They made their home in Salt Lake City where they were blessed with three special children, Craig, Sherry and Paula. After 10 years, they moved from the Glendale Park area to Murray, Utah.

During her younger years, she was employed as a medical assistant for several doctors until she became employed as a patient service representative at the Cottonwood Hospital for 25 years.

Utanah was a devoted member of the LDS Church and faithfully carried out her many positions such as, Primary President, teacher in the MIA, Relief Society, the Stake Sunday School board, and visiting teacher. During those early years, while the community of the 8th Ward was busily engaged in the structure of their new church building, she took great pride in grouting the tile work in the baptismal font.

Her most favored calling, where she worked with a devoted passion, was in the Genealogical program. On the wall, of her personal office, still hangs a sign which says “Genealogy Is My Hobby, I Collect Ancestors.” A large book case filled with volumes of family records stands as monument to her devoted ancestors, whom she now has the opportunity to meet and embrace. And I suspect that she and her mother will continue their ardent passion for this sacred and vital work. She also served as a guide on Temple Square and served eight years in the Jordan River Temple. In 1998 we filled a mission on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Wolf Point, Montana, where so many people became like family to us. And during the past 6 years, just prior to her death, she and I served 6 years as members of the Murray 4th Branch, being responsible for many services to the patients at the Cottonwood Hospital and the new Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah until her illness necessitated our release.

My love for this magnificent woman will be a beacon of joy which shall shine brightly during times of darkness and cloudy days ahead. I shall love her for all the eternities to come.

Utanah is preceded in death by her parents, R. Merlin Morrill and Ellen E. Rymer, and her brother Arlo S. Morrill. She is survived by her husband Jim Mills, her son R. Craig Mills (Lydia), her daughters Sherry Smith (Dave) and Paula Pulsipher (Stace), her brother Lolan Morrill (Lois), her sister Nola McGuire, and sister-in-law Joyce Morrill. She is the grandmother of 13 grandchildren and 33 great grandchildren.

To accommodate family and friends a viewing will be held at the Jenkins-Soffe South Valley Mortuary located at 1007 West South Jordan Parkway (10600 S.) on Sunday, March 11, 2012 from 5:00PM to 7:00PM. Funeral services will be held on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 11:00 AM with a viewing from 9:30 AM to 10:40 AM, at the Little Cottonwood 8th Ward, 6180 South Glenoaks St., Murray, UT. Interment will be at the Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy, UT.