BARBARA STEARNS MILLS, 96, passed away on July 27, 2014. The daughter of Elliott Edmund Stearns and Sarah Hoyt Stearns, Mrs. Mills was born in Winnetka, Illinois and raised in the Cleveland area, attended Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland Heights and graduated in 1940, magna cum laude, from Smith College where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and majored in Italian. She worked as an Italian translator for author Gaetano Salvemini in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then returned to the Cleveland area to marry Thorley Mills, also from Cleveland, and begin a family. Mrs. Mills lived in Europe after the Second World War while her husband served the reconstruction effort, then moved back to Cleveland Heights with her husband and three children. Her fourth and fifth children were born in Cleveland and the Toledo, Ohio area to which the family moved in the mid-50s when Mr. Mills became owner and president of the Toledo Metal Furniture Company. The family lived in the Toledo suburb of Maumee. Mrs. Mills assisted in administrative tasks of the business while raising her children. After Mr. Mills sold the business and retired in the mid-1970s, Mrs. Mills, with her husband, moved to Mount Dora, Florida and also maintained a home in Gordes, Provence, France. After Mr. Mills' death in 1986, the Mount Dora home became the primary locus of gatherings promoted and facilitated by Mrs. Mills. She was known and loved for her unfailing interest, compassion and helpfulness to her family and friends. Mrs. Mills is survived by her step brother Phocion (Pete) Sutherland of Buckhead, Georgia; by her five children, Thorley, Jr. (Suzanne) of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Kim (Asango) of Australia, Elliott (Mary) of St. Paul, Claud (Janet) of Traverse City, and Sarah Mills Ervin (Doug) of Stillwater, Minnesota; and by eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A graveside celebration of her life is planned at Lakeview Cemetery.