She passed with family and friends close by – all congregated together at the Hospice House of Kansas City – as was Millie’s dying wish. Her daughter and granddaughter held her as she took her last breaths, giving assurances of a life well lived and permission to go.
Born in her family’s home on June 28, 1939, in the Rosedale community of Kansas City, Kansas, to parents George and Gladys Blaurock, Millie became the second of three Blaurock siblings, including older brother George Henry Jr. and younger sister Carol Suse-Ann.
Millie attended Rosedale High School and at 15, landed her first job working the ticket booth at the Roxy Theater in downtown Kansas City. As a self-proclaimed “terrible change maker,” Millie moved on and at 16, became an elevator operator at the Muehlebach Hotel at 12th and Baltimore. Millie would often tell humorous stories of the famous (and quite handsome) baseball players who frequented the hotel and caused her to break out in “nerve lumps” on her forehead. This was, of course, before Robert Lee (Bob) Graves spotted an 18-year-old Millie with her mother in a local nightclub and asked her to dance. That dance led to a date, and that date led to a romance until one evening while waiting in line for the latest picture show, Bob turned to Millie, grabbed her hands in his and said, “Do you see these hands? These hands will always take care of you.”
Bob and Millie married October 23, 1957, and twin boys were born in November the following year. Millie would often talk about that first pregnancy and how thrilled she was to finally have something in life that was “all hers.” Five more children, two boys and three girls, would join the family over the next seven years, making Millie the proud (and busy) matriarch of a family of nine. “What’s one more,” Bob would say with a laugh as they prepared for the next arrival, and so came and went the years of young motherhood. Between raising a family in the Catholic church, wiping noses and tending hearts, Millie enjoyed riding her horses, reading True Detective Magazine and hosting many parties at her home. And although her children grew up and had children of their own, Millie never stopped being a mother – to her own children, her children’s friends, her grandchildren, and even to the nurses and caregivers who eventually accompanied her on her cancer journey.
In the early 1990s, Bob and Millie retired to Mountain Home, Arkansas, where Millie honed her greatest passion in life: golf. She was the first female to get a hole-in-one at Big Creek Golf and Country Club, and she was a regular player at nearby Twin Lakes Golf Club. Her achievements were often featured in the local paper, and then proudly clipped and copied by Bob for all to see. In 2005, Bob and Millie moved to Clinton, Missouri, to be closer to “home,” and it was there where Bob died, bringing 49 years of marriage to an end. Millie returned to Kansas City where she lived with her granddaughter and later her sons prior to death.
Millie approached challenges in life with courage and grit, perhaps no more evident than in the final year-and-a-half of her life. She was known for her beautiful smile, impeccable sense of style, immaculate home and unwavering love for those closest to her. To be loved by Millie was to be loved unconditionally and her capacity for forgiveness was unsurpassed. Nothing in the world meant more to her than family, and in her last days on earth she expressed not a fear of dying, but a mother’s unending worry for the well-being of her loved ones, and a sadness in her heart for having to leave them behind.
Millie is survived by her children Terry and Jerry Graves, Robert [Diana] Graves, Blanche [Mike] McMaster, Charlie Graves and Judy [Hugh] Clary; grandchildren Paige [Thomas] Baraban-Phillips, Cameron [Matthew] Baraban-White, Carl Graves, Heather [Matthew] Herring, Tyler [Crystil] Graves, Charly Edmonds, Mason Graves, Emily Kesler and Brad Kesler; great-grandchildren, including Ever, Weston, Riley, Jack, Maisie and Billie; sister Carol Denny; and many nieces and nephews, including Mike, Linda, Diane, Dawn, Tina, George III, Michael and Paula. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Robert, brother George Henry, Jr., nephew Billy, and beloved daughter Cathy Ann.
Millie will live forever in our hearts, never forgotten and never replaced. Rest in peace and love until we meet again.
A celebration of life will be held on October 29, 2022, at Mount Moriah, Newcomer and Freeman Funeral Home. A visitation will begin at noon with services starting at 1:00 p.m. A private reception for family and close friends will follow with details to be shared in advance.
