Bio: Mills, Arlyn (Chairman of Farm Progress 1983)

Contact: Kathleen E. Englebretson

Email: kathy@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Mills, Lesneski

----Source: Marshfield News-Herald (14 July 1983)

OWEN -- "Hi, Arlyn!"

"Hi, Arlyn. Where are you going?"

The salutations were simple, unaffected. The people who gave then were happy to see Arlyn Mills and several of them held out their hands to greet him.

Mills extended his hand in return, chatted with them and continued with the business at hand.

The exchanges were simple but they showed something about Arlyn Mills, administrator of the Clark County Health Care Center and chairman of this year's Farm Progress Days which begin Tuesday at the Center. He showed concern for these people who greeted him, all patients at the Center.

Mills has been the Center's administrator since 1971, succeeding his father, Calvin Mills, who had that post from 1945-70. He admits he was very much influenced bu his father's work.

Mills was born December 6, 1939 at Neillsville and moved to the center with his family when he was 5 years old, when his father became the Center's superintendent.

"This was a good place to grow up," he said, "and I don't think I would have turned out any different than I would have ordinarily. But I didn't know anything different."

He graduated from Owen-Withee High School in 1958. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1962 from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he majored in special education. He returned to that school and earned a master's degree in the same field in 1966.\

He was a teacher in a self-contained seventh grade classroom in Durand for five months before he joined the staff at Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Chippewa Falls.

He was assistant administrator at the Clark County Health Care Center from 1966-70 and assumed the duties of administrator in 1971.

He and his wife, the former Mary Loris Lesneski, have two children, Suzanne, a student at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, and David, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Stout at Menomonie.

Mills takes his job seriously.

"I view my job as my responsibility to provide an environment in which each person is treated with dignity and respect and is afforded a chance to maximix=ze their capabilities," he said.

"For me, this is more than a job and a paycheck. It's a way of life. It's a part of me. There's tremendous responsibility to the people I'm working for, to provide the very best and a degree of excellence. They expect that and deserve it and anything less is not acceptable.

"I detest mediocrity. That is not at all acceptable. and we give the taxpayers their money's worth."

A key aspect of the Center is that "...we allow residents the opportunity of meaningful work experiences. There is dignity and therapy in work."

"The patients know whether they make contributions, Everyone needs a job and to contribute, no matter how small or big that contribution is."

"I like my work, It's challenging and rewarding. I have the motivation to get out of bed in the morning. This job has a direct effect on other people's lives and there hasn't been a day when there's no challenge. There's never anything like a routine here."

"My task is really not that difficult because I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with capable people who can get the job done."

"It takes a lot of good people to pull this off," he said, giving credit also to the Center's Board of Trustees and the Clark County Board of Supervisors."

"I've been very blessed. There's a sense of dedication and loyalty there that you don't always see. I've been blessed with good people who take on responsibilities, who also believe that working here is more than a job and a paycheck."