A MERE three weeks after we first published this photo of veteran organist and choir director Patrick McDonald (Mac) Mills, after a 50-year tenure passing the baton to his successor at Allen Temple AME Church, Somerset, Mills himself peacefully passed on to his eternal rest.

Mac, who was into his 81st year, had his funeral at his church on November 13. The soul-stirring music at the service was led by the Senior Choir, to which he had devoted so much of his time and talent.

It was swelled to nearly three times its normal size by persons who at one time or another had been under his baton, but moved out of the parish or had been engaged in other spheres. They came 'home' to pay tribute to their old master. Presiding at the organ, of course, was his successor, Dion Flash.

Mac Mills was born in the West Indian island of Nevis on June 7, 1925, to the Rev. Patrick and Evangelist Victoria Mills. They migrated to Bermuda to be leaders in the Pentecostal Church, bringing their infant son with them.

At the tender age of three, the boy demonstrated his musical gift by playing a Bach selection on the piano. His mother, herself a gifted harpist, pianist and teacher and recognising his talent, immediately began his formal training that included theory, notation and pianoforte.

When he was 18, Mac played trumpet in a jazz quartet, but he realised the secular world was not exactly his calling. He joined Allen Temple Church which was situated not far from his residence, and became active in the church's Allen Christian Endeavour League (ACEL), as well one of the organists for the League's choir.

President of the ACEL was none other than young Vinton Anderson, the man who in 1972 became the 92nd Bishop of the AME Church; and in Australia in 1989, was elected to a seven-year term as President of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches.

Among other contemporaries of Mac Mills in the ACEL were Darnley Mouchette, who became a Chaplain and Lt.-Colonel in U.S. Armed Forces; the Rev. Malcolm Eve, now Presiding Elder of AME Churches in Bermuda; the Rev. Howard Philip, a retired Associate Pastor of Wayman AME Church in Dayton, Ohio; and the Rev. Dr. Godwin Douglas, a distinguished pastor of AME Churches in the Capitol District of Washington, DC.

Bishop Anderson, in a memorial message sent from his office in Missouri to the family of Patrick Mac Mills and read at the funeral, affectionately referred to him as "an old friend whose legacy in music will live on".

He was skilled in the art and his placid attitude both at the piano and organ was a special contribution to the church in Bermuda. As far back as our youthful years in the (ACEL) of Allen Temple he was making his contribution. He will be sorely missed because of the exceptional dedication he exercised in his craft."

Presiding Elder Eve, on behalf of the entire Bermuda Annual Conference, said he had known Bro. Mills most of all his (the Elder's) life. He found him to be a sincere person with an insightful mind who served his family, his country and Allen Temple well.

"His most outstanding contribution to the church was his consistent and dedicated service in the music department, using his God-given talent for the honour and glory of his Lord."

Mac Mills wrote the score for several songs, including the musical Love is the Sweetest Thing as well as Bermuda, Jewel of the Sea with lyrics by Colbert Pearman, performed and recorded by his choir. Also he composed another song, In Your Father's Eyes, which he dedicated to his daughter Victoria-Lynn on the occasion of her wedding in 1986.

He was a keen sportsman; he played cricket, was a member of the West End Rovers football team and was also a soccer referee. He worked for many years as a Customs officer and in the Prison Services. In 2003 he was awarded the Queen's Badge of Honour in recognition of his public services.

He is survived by his wife Edith, daughter Victoria-Lynn, who came from her home in Washington for the funeral; and his sister, Beatrice Mills. He was predeceased by his only other daughter Patricia Mills, who also lived overseas.