He’s the bread winner for the center

Guests at the Costa Mesa Senior Center can thank Bill Mills and his

team for the bread and baked goods that he stacks on the tables that

line the center’s bingo room.

The 84-year-old Costa Mesa resident picks up donated loaves of

bread, cakes and pastries from local shops and supermarkets.

Mills has been a volunteer at the center for the past 12 years.

For the first eight years, he worked solo. Since then, he has

recruited a team that helps make the rounds. Senior Center members

can take home loaves of bread for free, and the fancier pies and

cakes are often used as bingo prizes.

Mills, a Boston native, moved to Costa Mesa in 1953 and has lived

in his house on East 19th Street ever since. He worked as a union

painting contractor and worked on homes belonging to John Wayne, Gen.

Curtis Le May and actor Ray Milland. He sat down with the Daily

Pilot’s Andrew Edwards to talk about life and volunteering.

Have you been more busy than usual with the holiday season?

Yeah, real busy.

What was some of the work you had to do for Christmas and New

Year’s Day?

There’s more merchandise coming in ... candy, stuff like that. And

we also put out a lot of pastries, coffee, coffee cake in the central

[room] for anybody that would like a cup of coffee and a pastry and a

doughnut.

How did you get started here?

First I was helping, years ago, Brother Michael. He had places

around different churches where he gave out food, and I was helping

him bring in food. And then I went over to Bethel Towers, and I

started bringing merchandise over there. And then when I joined the

center here, then I started bringing everything and got accounts for

the center here.

The first eight years you were all by yourself, what was that

like?

Well, it was kind of a rough go at first. Seven days a week, I had

to pick up, I had to unload, I had to bring all the stuff in and set

it out. And then a friend of mine, a very good friend, he used to

pick it up for Oasis and he joined here and he started helping me and

gradually I got four or five other people that are now helping me.

What kind of changes have you seen in your neighborhood?

I hate to say it, but when I moved down here in ‘53, it was like

being down in the country. Going all the way up to Disneyland, you’d

be lucky if you ran into two or three automobiles. It’s sure changing

now.

What was it like at John Wayne’s? Did you meet him when you were

working at his house?

Oh no, I met him, my wife worked at a toy store down on Lido Isle,

and I was down there and he came in to buy some gifts, Christmas

gifts. Lucille Ball, I met her at this too, at the toy store.

What drew so many big names to the store?

I guess it was the only toy store around at the time.

In your job painting houses, all the growth that’s happened since

you’ve moved here, you’ve kind of been a part of it.

Yeah. I’ve done a lot of work around here.

What was it like seeing all the local building and development?

Well, there was an awful lot of building at that time. A lot of

tracts going up. A lot of commercial buildings going up. It was a

very busy, busy time in those years.