Umeko E Mills

Umeko (better known by her nickname “Aiko”) was born in Haneda, Japan on leap day, February 29,1928 to Rinzo Enomoto and Riyo Yatsushiro.   Most of her childhood was spent in the town of Kamata. Due to World War II, she was not able to graduate from junior high or high school as she was required to work in factories making parachutes or sewing uniforms.

                After the war, she worked miscellaneous jobs such as being a live-in nanny for a United States General stationed at an army hospital in Tokyo. Her social life consisted of going to parties where the Japanese girls met GI’s stationed in Japan.  It was at one of these parties where she met Robert Evan Mills, who became her husband on October 31, 1955. Together they raised their three daughters: Celia Parr, Dianna Huntsman (deceased), and Evelyn Sorensen. Eventually to the family tree were added 11 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchidren.

                Aiko worked most of her life as a maid for the Dunes Hotel, until it was imploded. However, her greatest pleasure was found in the work she did for her family; there was nothing she wouldn’t do for them. As the grandkids got older, she found herself at the center of many practical jokes. To her, these were very amusing, and she was always a good sport. She was known for her contagious laugh and was a very happy person. She once said that she would never grow old because she laughed so much.

                Aiko loved God.  She was a faithful and active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She found great joy in serving a mission in Honolulu Hawaii, being a temple worker, and attending her church meetings, which she did until she could no longer walk. As she became homebound, she made sure that she could participate in partaking of the Sacrament – an ordinance she took very seriously.

                On Sunday April 7, 2024 at 10:35 a.m. (although it wasn’t official until 12.49 p.m.) Aiko peacefully returned to live with God. She left behind all of us who found her so easy to love, but joined those that preceded her in death whom she loved and missed while she was on this earth. We know that she will continue her zest for life in the hereafter.

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