Windsor, VT – Barbara Elizabeth Mills, 97, died January 28, 2024 at The Village at Cedar Hill in Windsor, VT after a long and full life. She was born on June 29, 1926 in Brooklyn, NY the only child of Floyd Oran and Elizabeth Ward (Plock) Spicer. She graduated from Richmond Hill High School in Queens, NY in 1944 and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 1947 with a degree in Art Illustration. On February 21, 1948 she married John F. Mills in Manhattan, New York City.

Barbara was a woman of many talents. After graduation from Pratt Institute, she worked as a freelance illustrator and organized several art exhibitions on Long Island, NY. In 1964 she and her husband relocated the family to Hartland, VT, where she embraced her love of antiques and opened a shop in her home. This business venture soon became The Antiques Center at Hartland, and later expanded to include an historic building relocated to the family property from Connecticut. During this time, Barbara served as President and also as Director of the Vermont Antiques Dealers Association.

While in Hartland, Barbara taught art at the Hartland Elementary Schools, which at that time consisted of two four-room and one one-room school houses. Each year Barbara organized an art show at Damon Hall to the delight of the children and their parents, and which one year drew a national spotlight to the community. Barbara also volunteered her time for several years as the local organizer of the Fresh Air Fund, a charity that brought inner city children to stay with families in local Vermont communities for a few weeks each summer. She also provided costume, makeup, and stage design for the popular annual variety shows of the Hartland Community Arts.

Following retirement from the antiques business, Barbara continued to pursue her creative interests. She was highly skilled at needlework, creating many reproductions of antique samplers, and exhibited her authentic replicas of painted antique folk art portraits at an art gallery in Woodstock, VT. For many years, she volunteered her time at the Bugbee Senior Center in White River Junction, VT, and the Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock, VT.

Barbara was predeceased by her husband in 2001. Survivors include her sons John F. Mills Jr., of Windsor, VT; Oran C. Mills and his wife Marilyn of Middletown, CT; Timothy D. Mills and his wife Margaret of Nyack, NY; daughter Susan E. Bibeau and her husband Richard of Fairlee, VT; as well as grandchildren Jennifer Mills of Seattle, WA, Michael Mills of Naugatuck, CT, and Jeremy Mills of Denver, CO.

In keeping with Barbara's wishes, there will be no services. Donations in her memory may be made to Second Chance Animal Rescue, 1517 Meadow Street, Littleton, NH 03561, where Barbara found and adopted her beloved cat, Phoebe.