Marian Kay Mills

Marian Kay (French) Mills, age 80, formerly of New Cumberland, PA and Greencastle, PA, passed away at Cross Keys Village-The Brethren Home Community, New Oxford, PA on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, after an 8-year battle with multiple myeloma.

Marian was born in Chambersburg, PA on November 24, 1945, the daughter of D. Dale and Pearl Unger French.

She attended Rising Sun, a one-room school in "Bino" for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. She walked the half mile to school through all kinds of weather and then was bused to Mercersburg Elementary School for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.

After graduating with the class of 1963 from Greencastle-Antrim High School, she entered nurse's training at Reading Hospital School of Nursing, although she had always dreamed of a career as a secretary. After finishing two years of the nursing program and realizing that nursing wasn't the career for her, she left and enrolled in the secretarial course at the Waynesboro Business School.

Declining offers of several positions from companies in and around her hometown, she moved to Harrisburg to take a job as the secretary to a high-ranking official in the Department of Public Instruction (now the Department of Education). After two and one-half years, she left that job to work in the PA House of Representatives where she remained for 38 years, serving as secretary and administrative assistant to various Republican Representatives, most of whom were from Montgomery and Chester Counties. She considered it a special honor to work in the beautiful State Capitol.

Marian was predeceased by her husband of 58 years, James E. Mills, by her parents and by two brothers, Edgar L. St. Clair and David D. French, Jr.: by her Uncle Russell L. French; and by her Aunts Hilda French Kelly, Mabel Unger Ludwig, and Olive Unger Heinbaugh; and by her beloved cats Tom, Toby, Melanie, Mandy, Chinook, Mystery, Madison, Demelza, Shiloh, Kedryn, Dana, Ezra Keith, and Ben.

Surviving her are several cousins and nieces.

After she rescued Madison from the grounds of the Capitol in 1999 with the help of volunteers from PAWS of PA, Inc., Marian began to volunteer for PAWS as a fundraiser. She used her sewing skills to make assorted catnip toys and fleece pet beds and blankets and other pet-themed household items which she and Jim sold at craft shows in the Harrisburg area. Over the years, she raised thousands of dollars for PAWS to assist the organization in its efforts to address the cat overpopulation problem in southcentral Pennsylvania. When she and Jim could no longer participate in craft shows, she continued to sew as long as she could and found other outlets for the items she made.

Marian had a stunning garden of irises and a variety of unusual perennials at her New Cumberland home, which she tended meticulously and shared with great pleasure.

Besides gardening, the thing Marian enjoyed more than anything else was playing cards, especially 500 bid, at which she excelled. She and Jim spent many happy hours playing the game with the Heinbaughs and her father. If plans had been made to "have a game" with the Heinbaughs in Hagerstown, nothing stood in the way of Jim, Marian, and Dale being there, not even a blizzard-like snowstorm. Those happy times ended after her father and Emmert Heinbaugh passed away in 1984 and 1985 respectively. She and Jim were able to play again for a short time at Cross Keys Village.

Marian had been a member of the former Trinity United Methodist Church of New Cumberland.

Following cremation, Marian's ashes will be placed into a niche overlooking the graves of her parents and brother, David, in Parklawns Memorial Gardens, Chambersburg. There will be no services.

Donations in Marian's memory may be made to Forever Love Rescue, 39 Queen St., Gettysburg, PA 17325 or to any other animal rescue organization. Her greatest wish was that everyone will spay and neuter their pets.

Professional services have been entrusted to Harold M. Zimmerman and Son Funeral Home, Greencastle, PA.