In Honor of Robert E. McMillin (1930–2026)
by David Kelly James, HFFI President
It is my sad duty to report the passing of Bob McMillin. He is my best friend’s father (his namesake), I spent years with him and, as I learned later, was under his tutelage. He was in effect my second father.
He and his wife, Sarah, were great supporters of HFFI. You see they were restoring 303 Caroline Street and it was severely termite infested. The McMillins were determined to make it their family home. One of my first recollections of the family was jumping into the gravel pile from the second-floor bedroom of my new best friend’s house. Eventually they got their home restored as you can read from The Free Lance Star article of September 12, 1973.
The McMillins would organize a pig picking for the Great Rappahannock River Raft Race conducted every year in support of HFFI. We kids had the duty to dig the holes to cook the pigs and mind the fires all night long. The next day, July 4, the parents and volunteers would sell barbecue sandwiches to the gathered masses all in support of HFFI.
Then in later years the McMillins started buying properties to restore and have as rental property. Mr. McMillin taught me how to hang sheetrock, install fiberglass insulation, dig holes, chip mortar off bricks—all the mindless jobs that any two adolescent kids could do. We built a log cabin in the woods using only machetes. Mr. McMillin came in after we boys had built it and added the finishing touch, a woodstove that he had made out of an old 55-gallon oil drum. Later he built a real cabin in the woods of West Virginia, where he taught us boys how to fish for trout. He was the most patient man I have known as far as angling.
Over time he taught me a lot more—how to do plumbing, fix wiring, and identify a load-bearing wall. As I grew older, he gave us more and more responsibility. Eventually my best friend and I agreed to form a Company called ‘McAmes’. We painted houses together, when it snowed, we ‘shoveled’ it, using a snowblower that Mr. McMillin had fixed. He taught us how to hunt, trap and fish. We never ever (that I can recall) ever beat him at Ping-Pong. He had an amazing backhand and weird rollover that controlled the ball like nothing I have ever seen. We boys tried hard to beat him but he would just smile his smile and say; “next game?”
In later years, he was one of my first customers as an aspiring real estate agent. I helped him buy a rental property. He was one tough negotiator. I learned a LOT there! When I bought my first rental property, he went with me to inspect it, to bless the agreement and to give me pointers on how I could fix it up. My second rental was actually one I bought from him and his partners as the McMillins were then moving to Sandbridge and wanted to retire. We visited many times over the years. Just a few years ago he and his wife, Sarah, gave my wife, Terrie, and I their interest in the McMillin family cabin in West Virginia.
He was an amazing man and was instrumental in my developing my interest in being able to preserve, protect, and revitalize the distinctive historic environment and cultural resources of the Fredericksburg area. I did not realize it at the time, but I guess he is truly the reason I was willing to take on the position as HFFI’s President. I hope I have made him proud.