James Richard McMillen, age 70, of Mansfield passed away Saturday, October 1, 2022, at Lexington Court Care Center. He was born December 16, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Anna Louise (Boud) and Dick LaRue McMillen. Jim valued education and earned two Master degrees: one from Xavier University and one from Akron University. He passed along his love of learning to the students he taught for over 30 years, mostly at Maple Heights schools.
Jim enjoyed rock music and was a movie enthusiast. Most of all, he was the greatest father anyone could hope to have. He was very family oriented and enjoyed the time spent with his loved ones.
He is survived by his mother, Anna McMillen; wife of 32 years, Susan Ann Aspley McMillen; twins, Anna McMillen and Alexander James (Katie Lynn) McMillen; sister, Judy (Alan) Mudd; brother-in-law, Billy (Gina) Aspley; niece, Sarah Aspley; and nephew, Jed Aspley. He was preceded in death by his father.
Jim McMillen was a faithful friend to me for over 55 years and will be deeply missed. Our last contact was at an Indians game in 2019, where he shared with me how happy and healthy Susan made his life. He felt lucky to have found such a caring wife. Jim spoke of Anna and Alexander as a justifiably-proud father. He was beaming as he told me about the fine adults that they had become and of their academic and other accommplishments. Jim modestly told me that any and all successful parenting was attributable to Susan (which she later strongly attributed to Jim!). Jim was a also good son, who, with other family members, took care of his mother's home and provided company to his mother for many years after his father had died.
At Progressive Field, Jim brought up how much he enjoyed time spent after college with our classmate Bob Munthe. He also mentioned others in our class, asking if I knew how and where they were. He questioned why he had lost touch with so many in our class and this is probably something we should all considered. Jim still had an afinity for the members of our class.
As my friend, Jim helped me to laugh my way through the ups and downs of our years at North High School. We did many double dates, stupidly-dangerous car stunts, marching band events, school plays, church camps, and service projects but through it all, we found much hilarity. Jim, as you will remember, had a wicked sense of humor and enjoyed making people laugh. He was skillful in using humor to defuse tense situations, deflate pompous individuals, and speak truth to the powerful. During high school, Jim got me into and out of trouble on numerous occasions. Interpersonal skills that I learned from Jim, I used to my benefit, particularly in business, for the rest of my life.
Jim was a stand-up guy in some of the bigger moments of my life after high school. These included being my Best Man at Leslie's and my wedding in 1974 and supporting me at the funeral and burial of my Dad in 2018. Unfortunately after college, Jim and I never lived within 1000 miles of one another and ithis made seeing each other regularly very difficult, particularly under the demands of jobs and family. When we had not seen each other for 5 or 10 years, it would take about 5 or 10 minutes for me to feel like we had seen each other only yesterday. Such is the nature of having a good friend like Jim.
Its a shame Jim grew up with all of us. I didnt hang around with Jim but i remeber him being in a lot of my classes as i grew up....too bad. Mr Mott gave a very nice Eulogy. We all hope to be remebered as fondly as he gave to Jim. Bryan Hepper
Richard Mott
North High Class of 1970,
Jim McMillen was a faithful friend to me for over 55 years and will be deeply missed. Our last contact was at an Indians game in 2019, where he shared with me how happy and healthy Susan made his life. He felt lucky to have found such a caring wife. Jim spoke of Anna and Alexander as a justifiably-proud father. He was beaming as he told me about the fine adults that they had become and of their academic and other accommplishments. Jim modestly told me that any and all successful parenting was attributable to Susan (which she later strongly attributed to Jim!). Jim was a also good son, who, with other family members, took care of his mother's home and provided company to his mother for many years after his father had died.
At Progressive Field, Jim brought up how much he enjoyed time spent after college with our classmate Bob Munthe. He also mentioned others in our class, asking if I knew how and where they were. He questioned why he had lost touch with so many in our class and this is probably something we should all considered. Jim still had an afinity for the members of our class.
As my friend, Jim helped me to laugh my way through the ups and downs of our years at North High School. We did many double dates, stupidly-dangerous car stunts, marching band events, school plays, church camps, and service projects but through it all, we found much hilarity. Jim, as you will remember, had a wicked sense of humor and enjoyed making people laugh. He was skillful in using humor to defuse tense situations, deflate pompous individuals, and speak truth to the powerful. During high school, Jim got me into and out of trouble on numerous occasions. Interpersonal skills that I learned from Jim, I used to my benefit, particularly in business, for the rest of my life.
Jim was a stand-up guy in some of the bigger moments of my life after high school. These included being my Best Man at Leslie's and my wedding in 1974 and supporting me at the funeral and burial of my Dad in 2018. Unfortunately after college, Jim and I never lived within 1000 miles of one another and ithis made seeing each other regularly very difficult, particularly under the demands of jobs and family. When we had not seen each other for 5 or 10 years, it would take about 5 or 10 minutes for me to feel like we had seen each other only yesterday. Such is the nature of having a good friend like Jim.
I will greatly miss Jim..
Rick Mott
Bryan Hepper
Its a shame Jim grew up with all of us. I didnt hang around with Jim but i remeber him being in a lot of my classes as i grew up....too bad. Mr Mott gave a very nice Eulogy. We all hope to be remebered as fondly as he gave to Jim. Bryan Hepper