Nancy K. Mills passed away on June 12, 2007. The cause was breast cancer. She was a beloved wife, mother, cousin and friend. She was also an artist, designer, landscape architect and tireless contributor to her community.
A deeply generous person who united people, Nancy valued family and friends above all else. She brought together relatives and friends from different circles, inspiring human connection and selflessness by her own example. Nancy’s greatest passion was helping people in her community, which she did often through her creative and dedicated work for numerous charitable organizations, including Ronald McDonald House, the Horace Williams House, the Chapel Hill Museum, the Society for Ethical Culture and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Nancy was very active in the school system in Chapel Hill and in Northern Virginia, working as art instructor and classroom volunteer, and serving as the president of the Parent Teacher Association at Greenbriar West Elementary in Virginia.
Nancy was a talented designer and artist and worked professionally as a landscape architect throughout her life. Pursuing a variety of crafts, she focused on jewelry design in particular. Her beading parties were often social as well as charitable events: She coordinated the creation of hundreds of beaded necklaces for the Lineberger Center’s Tickled Pink Luncheon in 2005 and frequently donated her own pieces for charity auction fundraisers.
Nancy Ruth Kitt was born July 4, 1948 in New York City. Her father, Henry Kitt, emigrated from Russia in 1914 and her mother, Paula Lucille MacDonald was from Meredith, New Hampshire. Nancy grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. She graduated from George Washington University in 1970, and that same year married Steven Mills and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1973, she earned her masters in landscape architecture from N.C. State University. She and her family moved to Northern Virginia in 1983 and returned to Chapel Hill in 2001.
Nancy is survived by her husband Steven Mills, sons Peter and Michael, daughter Emily, son-in-law Adam Reed, brother Andrew Kitt, as well as many favorite cousins, nieces and nephews and dear friends.
A memorial service for family and close friends will be held at the Carolina Inn on Saturday, June 16, from 2-5 pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Lineberger Center:
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Campus Box 7295
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 966-9874
Arrangements by the Cremation Society of the Carolinas. Online condolences to www.cremnc.com