Deacon Hugh H. Mills Jr., who served at St. Clement I and St. Alphonsus shrine, dies at 84

Deacon Hugh H. Mills Jr., a deacon in the Archdiocese of Baltimore for more than 30 years, died Feb. 8 at the Loch Raven VA Medical Center. He was 84.

Deacon Mills was ordained in 1989, and he served at St. Clement I in Lansdowne from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2016 until his retirement in February 2022. In between, he served as deacon at what is now the National Shrine of St. Alphonsus in Baltimore.

According to Deacon Mills’ daughter, Susan Yost, the two parishes were a significant part of her family’s faith. Her great grandparents were from Lithuania, and when she was a child, her family attended St. Alphonsus, which once served the Lithuanian community. When she was in grade school, the family, which also included her brother, Tony, and mom, Nancy, moved to St. Clement.

“We sat in the same pew every Sunday for years and years,” Yost remembered. “I was a lector, Tony was an altar server and Dad joined the choir. We joked that mom had to sit in the pew so someone could put our envelope in the collection.”

At St. Clement, Deacon Mills was a leader in the Boy Scout Troop, and he trained the altar servers.

A Baltimore City Police officer for nearly two decades, Deacon Mills rose to the rank of lieutenant, and at one point was a part of the K-9 Unit. He later served in the Anne Arundel County Police Department. Prior to joining the police, Deacon Mills served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“He was always going out of his way to help people, and someone suggested he become a deacon,” said Yost. After talking to his wife, they agreed it was the right decision.

Deacon Mills baptized several of his great grandchildren, and he gave many of them their first holy Communion. He also officiated at the marriages of Yost’s oldest daughter and her son.

During his ministry, Deacon Mills served as associate state chaplain with the Maryland State Council Knights of Columbus and assistant chaplain at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. He visited patients and led prayer services at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, and he was also a member of the Lithuanian American Legion. At St. Alphonsus, Deacon Mills served as business manager. 

“My dad loved working at the VA, and he loved to minister to the vets,” Yost said. “He wanted to help and serve them to the best of his ability. It brought him hope and enjoy. This is why he wanted to go to hospice at the VA.”

Yost said Deacon Mills was diagnosed with lung cancer in August and stayed home until January. He moved from his home to Gilchrist Hospice, and later to Loch Raven VA Medical Center.

“Deacons are known as faithful servants, and Hugh was exactly that – a faithful servant of God,” said Anne Buening, former pastoral life director at St. Clement and vice president of Mission and Integration at Ascension St. Agnes. Buening knew Deacon Mills for more than 20 years.

“He was a gentle giant and had a wonderful smile,” she said. “He was a man who would do anything for anybody, and you just knew you could always count on him.”

In their spare time, Deacon and Nancy Mills trained and showed dogs, including a Boston Terrier and a Weimaraner. His K-9 partner was Rex, a German Shepherd, and one of Yost’s favorite memories is when he brought Rex to her kindergarten class.

Deacon Mills was born in Houston, Texas, and according to Yost, he was the largest baby ever born in that hospital at the time, weighing in at 14 pounds. He spent time in a Catholic orphanage while his parents were in the war, and he converted to Catholicism as a young boy. His biological mother died when he was 7, and his stepmother Hazel helped him to embrace his faith.

“My father loved to talk about the church, and he loved to talk about Jesus,” Yost said. “He learned his faith by living it.”

Deacon Dan Miller, director of Evangelization at Christ the King in Glen Burnie and St. Bernadette in Severn, grew up at St. Clement, where he was baptized, made his first holy Communion and was married.

“When I think about what a deacon is, Deacon Mills is the first person who pops up,” Deacon Miller said. “Growing up, he was always the deacon at our parish Masses, and he was there for all the holidays. He was a great public speaker and homilist. He was gentle, but honest.”

Deacon Miller said Deacon Mills loved the Lansdowne community, he loved the parish, and the parish loved him.

“He understood where people were coming from – all the highs and lows – and he would meet people where they were and help them get to where they wanted to be in their faith,” he said. “When I was growing up, I called him deacon, but later I had the honor to call him brother.”

A 10 a.m. funeral Mass will be offered at St. Clement Feb. 16.

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