Edited interview with Richard Mills Jr. (RM), son of Richard Mills. Interview conducted by Joe Manning (JM) on January 18, 2007.

JM: What did you think of the photographs?

RM: I never knew he went to work that young. I knew he worked in the canning factories. When he was working down at the Hudson Pulp and Paper Company (Augusta, Maine), he used to go up to visit his brother, Joe, in Eastport, when he was on vacation. He would work in the canning factory with Joe for a few days, just for something to do. When he came home from the sardine factory, he always brought some cans of sardines with him.

JM: Did he enjoy doing that, or did he just want the extra money?

RM: He enjoyed it. My dad was a hard worker. No two ways about that.

JM: In the photos, he has a bandage around his finger. Did your father have any permanent injuries to his hands or fingers?

RM: I never noticed any, and he never said anything about that.

JM: What do you think about your father having to work in the cannery at that age?

RM: A lot of people worked at that age back then. I guess he came from a big family, and all of the children had to work to help out their parents.

JM: Were you born in Eastport?

RM: No, I was born in Augusta. My parents lived in Augusta then.

JM: When did your father leave Eastport?

RM: I don't know.

JM: What was your mother's name?

RM: Ella May Noyes. I think he met her in Augusta. I was the first child, born July 21, 1925.

JM: What was the first job you remember your father working at?

RM: He was working on the WPA when I was around nine or ten years old. I remember him working on the damage from the 1936 flood.

JM: Your father's obituary said he was a veteran of WWI.

RM: He never told me anything about that. He never told me much about his life when he was young.

JM: When did he start working for Hudson Pulp and Paper?

RM: I'm not sure. I worked there, too, at the same time he was there. My brother, Joe, and my brother, David, also worked there then. Dad worked in what they called the yard. That was throwing wood into the river and into hoppers. I also worked in the yard for a while. Then I went to work in the finishing room, working on the paper machines. After I left there, I went to work in the Statler Tissue mill, which bought up Hudson. I stayed there till I retired. Then I drove a cab for about four years.

JM: Did your mother have a job?

RM: She worked for a while in Augusta as a waitress, but she was mostly a housekeeper.

JM: Did you know your father's parents?

RM: No. When I was little, my grandmother was in a hospital down in Virginia, and my grandfather had died before I was born.

JM: Have you ever been to Eastport?

RM: No.

JM: Do you have any children?

RM: I have just one child alive now, my son Richard. I had two daughters who died, one at the age of 32. I have a brother named Charlie, who has done real well. He started working in a grocery store, and then he ran his own grocery store in Augusta called Mister Market for many years. Then he bought a place in Winthrop (Maine) where he built another Mister Market store. He finally sold that and made a lot of money.

JM: What was your father like?

RM: He was a heckuva nice guy. He was liked by everybody. He never had anything bad to say about anybody. I try to pattern myself after him, but I'll never come close to what he was.

JM: What did he like to do when he wasn't working?

RM: He liked to sing. He used to sing war songs, usually sailor songs. "Standing on the Burning Deck" is one I remember. Another one is, "May I Sleep In Your Barn, Mister?" He had a good voice. I also like to sing, and I play guitar. I've done that ever since I was 12. Dad liked to joke around. If he had a good joke, he would tell it to you.

JM: What are some of the things you did with your father when you were little?

RM: Not a whole lot, because he was always working. But once in a while, we would rent a boat and go out in the lake. I got married at the age of 17, but I lived very close to him. I used to take him back and forth to work. And I would take him and my mother shopping sometimes.

JM: When did your father and mother die?

RM: Mom died about in 1972, and Dad died in 1975. Toward the end of his life, he came down with emphysema. That and a bad heart is what took him. I had a father that nobody else will ever match. He was always there for me, no matter what. He was little, about 5' 7", but he was a very strong man. He couldn't read or write, and he only went as far as the third or fourth grade, but he was very smart and very special.