Mildred Hornbrook West, from Union Indiana, died on the afternoon of Thursday, June 14th, 2018 at River Oaks Assisted Living Facility.

She was 93 years old. She passed away peacefully listening to What a Friend We Have in Jesus and being assured by her daughter-in-law that even though she was loved dearly, it was ok for her to begin her journey into Heaven.

Mildred (Millie) Loraine Hawkins was born April 4th, 1925 in Lawton Oklahoma.

She married John Paul Hornbrook of Union Indiana who was a soldier stationed for training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He died in 1974. In 1977 Mildred married Robert Dale West of Princeton Indiana, and his death parted them in 1996.

Mildred resided in the same home near Union for 71 years. She helped operate the dairy farm, worked in the shipyards of Evansville during the war, and Potter and Brumfield, which later became Siemens in Princeton Indiana before her retirement. She was dedicated to church and community outreach as well as animal rights. Actively teaching Sunday School classes for all ages, as needed for nearly seven decades she was renowned for her near-perfect attendance and tireless efforts to her home church of Union Community and other churches in the area. Her farm was unofficially accepted as a place of rescue for both stray cats and dogs, and over the years she fed and sheltered hundreds of them. Mildred was an actively involved Christian who believed that the best way to spread her faith in Christianity was to lead by example and provide help and restore hope in the community. She remained the epitome of faith and hope until her death.

Three sons survive Mildred, John R. Hornbrook of Evansville, Dennis West (Marilyn) of Princeton and Gary West (Becky) of Princeton, Indiana as well as one daughter, Kathy Smith (Jerry) of Johnson. In addition to her four children, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren were blessed to have shared her life.

Funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at Colvin Funeral Home in Princeton, officiated by Rev. Wesley Haas. Burial will follow at Union Community Cemetery. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until service time Tuesday at the funeral home.

Millie Hornbrook West touched a lot of lives in her 93 years on earth. She was there when people dropped their pets out on the side of the road, when those who were sick in the community needed someone to cheer them up with homemade meals, a hospital or nursing home visit, or when anyone just required a brilliantly burning light to chase any shadows away from their doorstep.

Anyone who ever met Millie soon realized that she was a different kind of Christian - never pushy or argumentative about details or biblical interpretations. She had the most excellent sense of humor and was never shaken by adversity - a few years back she drove her car into her house by accident, and she merely smiled and said: “either the house or the car must need one of those recalls.”

Millie simply loved all of the life God had created in every form on earth and did it with enough power that all of us could feel it. She just added an entirely new realm of beings to love in Heaven - but she has plenty to go around.