Life With Arnie
// VF File Photo by Meghan Gerke
For the past 25 years, Arnie Mills has driven the Grand View Choir on its tour across the United States. Throughout hours on the bus, hundreds of performances and countless hugs, Mills has impacted the members of the choir in many different ways.
In the spring of 1991, Mills was assigned to drive the bus for the weeklong tour. He had never been involved in music and didn’t have a music background, but Mills soon discovered his love for the music they performed on the tour.
“I can’t sing a note if my life depended on it,” Mills said. “I envy anyone that can sing. I just enjoy listening to them.”
While his love for the music grew, Mills attended every performance and soon began helping out. He would assist wherever the choir needed help, even if that was just handing out programs. Sometimes he would end up consoling crying babies who would have disrupted the performance. With all of his extra work, it was not a surprise that Mills was asked back for the following year.
During the course of the next two decades, Mills became a member of the choir family, reaching out and impacting each member in a different way. Choir Director Kathryn Duffy has worked with Mills since 1995 and has developed a close relationship with him throughout the years.
Kathryn Duffy and Arnie Mills pause for a photo after the Grand View Choir’s home concert on April 3. // VF File Photo by Meghan Gerke
“It’s a strange relationship in a way because we only see each other once a year,” Duffy said. “But then it comes to March, and it’s time to see Arnie. We just pick up where we left off. He’s driving and when he’s not driving, I’m working.We just complement each other.”
As their friendship grew and deepened over the years, so did Mills’ relationship with other members of the choir. Krister Strandskov (Sr.) has developed a friendship with Mills that will go beyond their three years on tour together.
“He and I kind of have this unspoken admiration toward each other,” Strandskov said. “He’s someone I look up to as a man, as a human. He’s like a perfect example of who you should be.”
In becoming part of the choir family, Mills has seen both the fun times and hard times of tour. A few years ago on tour, Duffy received a call about the loss of a family member. Unable to leave the tour, Duffy relied on Mills, who stepped in as a shoulder for her to cry on.
“To have that arm come around your shoulder just when you need it, he doesn’t have to say a word; he’s just got these bright blue eyes that say ‘I know,’” Duffy tearfully said. “I love that about Arnie. And that same arm that reaches around my shoulder is there for every one of the kids, for every one of them, when they need that arm.”
Duffy is not the only one who has taken advantage of Mills’ shoulder over the years. Rachel Kelly (Sr.) has
Rachel Kelly and Arnie Mills pose for a photo on the last day of Grand View Choir’s 2016 Tour. // Contributed Photo
also developed a close relationship with Mills during her years on tour.
“He’s not just the bus driver,” Kelly said. “He was there for me through all kinds of crap, and he helped me get through it. He’s like our choir grandpa.”
Like many of the seniors in the choir, Kelly said she looks forward to her life after Grand View, but she already has plans to stay in touch with Mills.
“I’m probably going to invite him to my wedding,” Kelly said.
The “choir grandpa” has impacted many students over the years for one simple reason, the same reason that
he keeps coming back: Family.
“It’s always been a pleasure to watch them grow as they come into the choir,” Mills said. “You know they are just wonderful people; they’re family. They are family.”
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