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For more than four decades, she spearheaded the campaign to build a replacement bridge on Arkansas Highway 109 over the Arkansas River between Clarksville and the community of Morrison Bluff  in Logan County. The since-named Ada Mills Bridge is the longest such span in the state of Arkansas.<ref name=obit/>​

For more than four decades, she spearheaded the campaign to build a replacement bridge on Arkansas Highway 109 over the Arkansas River between Clarksville and the community of Morrison Bluff  in Logan County. The since-named Ada Mills Bridge is the longest such span in the state of Arkansas.<ref name=obit/>​

==Political activities== ​

==Political activities==​

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In 1972, Mills was a delegate to the 1972 [[Republican National Convention]] in Miami Beach, [[Florida]], in which she joined the unanimous Arkansas members in ratifying the re-nomination of the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]]-[[Spiro T. Agnew|Agnew]] ticket.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mills.html#24600V0EV|title=Ada Mills|publisher=politicalgraveyard.com|accessdate=September 8, 2010}}</ref> ​

In 1972, Mills was a delegate to the 1972 [[Republican National Convention]] in Miami Beach, [[Florida]], in which she joined the unanimous Arkansas members in ratifying the re-nomination of the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]]-[[Spiro T. Agnew|Agnew]] ticket.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mills.html#24600V0EV|title=Ada Mills|publisher=politicalgraveyard.com|accessdate=September 8, 2010}}</ref> ​

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Eight years later in 1980, she committed initially to Nixon's former [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|treasury secretary]], John Connally, before finally joining her Arkansas delegation to support the Reagan-[[George Herbert Walker Bush|Bush]] ticket, which prevailed in Arkansas. The original Arkansas count had been seven for Reagan, four for [[U.S. Senator]] [[Howard Baker]], of [[Tennessee]], two for Bush, five uncommitted, and Mills' backing of Connally. Along with Mills, the Arkansas delegation at the 1980 Republican National Convention, which met in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], included [[U.S. Representative]]s [[John Paul Hammerschmidt]] and Edwin Ruthvin Bethune, Jr., party chairman [[Lynn Lowe]], national committeeman [[Harlan "Bo" Holleman]], and party legal counsel James Burnett.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' February 23, 1980, p. 572; July 12, 1980, p. 1928.</ref><ref>''Arkansas Outlook'' (Republican Party newsletter), March 1979.</ref>​

Eight years later in 1980, she committed initially to Nixon's former [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|treasury secretary]], John Connally, before finally joining her Arkansas delegation to support the Reagan-[[George Herbert Walker Bush|Bush]] ticket, which prevailed in Arkansas. The original Arkansas count had been seven for Reagan, four for [[U.S. Senator]] [[Howard Baker]], of [[Tennessee]], two for Bush, five uncommitted, and Mills' backing of Connally. Along with Mills, the Arkansas delegation at the 1980 Republican National Convention, which met in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], included [[U.S. Representative]]s [[John Paul Hammerschmidt]] and Edwin Ruthvin Bethune, Jr., party chairman [[Lynn Lowe]], national committeeman [[Harlan "Bo" Holleman]], and party legal counsel James Burnett.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report,'' February 23, 1980, p. 572; July 12, 1980, p. 1928.</ref><ref>''Arkansas Outlook'' (Republican Party newsletter), March 1979.</ref>​

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In 2000, she was awarded the Republican Party's Eagle Award for fifty years of work in the establishment of a two-party system in historically [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] state.<ref name=obit/>​

In 2000, she was awarded the Republican Party's Eagle Award for fifty years of work in the establishment of a two-party system in historically [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] state.<ref name=obit/>​

 

==Death and family==​

==Death and family==

 

Mills died at her Clarksville residence at the age of eighty-nine. She was survived by a son, Jim Pat Mills of Clarksville; two daughters and sons-in-law, Joanie and husband Lee McCleskey of College Station, Texas, and MaryTom (Tommie) Mills Riley-O'Bar and her second husband, Clyde Russell O'Bar (1938-2017). AT the time of Ada Mill's death, the O'Bars resided in [[Lubbock]], Texas. When Clyde O'Bar died at the age of seventy-eight, they were living in Rio Rancho, [[New Mexico]]. He is interred at Resthaven Cemetery in Lubbock.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/abqjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=184579893|title=Clyde O'Bar's obituary|publisher=''The Albuquerque Journal,''|date=March 19, 2017|accessdate=August 13, 2019}}</ref> Joe and Ada Mills had seven grandchildren and  ten great-grandchildren.<ref name=obit/> Like his mother, Jim Pat Mills is active in the state Republican Party, having been the Johnson County state committeeman.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725014052/http://www.arkansasgop.org/index.cfm?p=StateRepublicanCommitteeMembersListing|title=State Republican Committee Members Listing |publisher=Arkansasgop.org |accessdate=September 8, 2010 }}</ref>​

Mills died at her Clarksville residence at the age of eighty-nine. She was survived by a son, Jim Pat Mills of Clarksville; two daughters and sons-in-law, Joanie and husband Lee McCleskey of College Station, Texas, and MaryTom (Tommie) Mills Riley-O'Bar and her second husband, Clyde Russell O'Bar (1938-2017). AT the time of Ada Mill's death, the O'Bars resided in [[Lubbock]], Texas. When Clyde O'Bar died at the age of seventy-eight, they were living in Rio Rancho, [[New Mexico]]. He is interred at Resthaven Cemetery in Lubbock.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/abqjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=184579893|title=Clyde O'Bar's obituary|publisher=''The Albuquerque Journal,''|date=March 19, 2017|accessdate=August 13, 2019}}</ref> Joe and Ada Mills had seven grandchildren and  ten great-grandchildren.<ref name=obit/> Like his mother, Jim Pat Mills is active in the state Republican Party, having been the Johnson County state committeeman.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725014052/http://www.arkansasgop.org/index.cfm?p=StateRepublicanCommitteeMembersListing|title=State Republican Committee Members Listing |publisher=Arkansasgop.org |accessdate=September 8, 2010 }}</ref>​

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Services were held on October 4, 2001, at the Raymond Munger Memorial Chapel at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville with six officiating ministers, including then Arkansas Governor [[Mike Huckabee]]. Joe and Ada Mills are interred at Oakland Cemetery in Clarksville.<ref name=obit/>​

Services were held on October 4, 2001, at the Raymond Munger Memorial Chapel at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville with six officiating ministers, including then Arkansas Governor [[Mike Huckabee]]. Joe and Ada Mills are interred at Oakland Cemetery in Clarksville.<ref name=obit/>​

 

==References==​

==References==​

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