For Astarte Howell, one of the educators who “made high school special” for her as a student at Jones College Prep was Charles “Charlie” Mills, a technical director for the theater program.
Mills helped build sets, run lights and coordinate engineering for student productions, including theater, band and choir, she said. He was “always in good spirits,” and helped her find a love of theater. If not for Mills, she said she wouldn’t have pursued a degree in theater at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“You just ever meet a person like right off the bat you know that they’re a good person? Charlie was that,” Howell, a 2008 graduate, said. “It was never ‘No, I couldn’t’ or he was never in a rush. Anytime you asked Charlie for anything, or if you needed Charlie for something, he was always there, and if he couldn’t do it right then, he made it happen.”
Mills, who worked as a special education classroom assistant for Chicago Public Schools for more than 20 years, was killed near his home in a hit-and-run Sunday night in West Lawn, according to officials. The 56-year-old was crossing South Pulaski Road eastbound on 64th Street around 11:45 p.m. when a red Toyota Camry, traveling at a high rate of speed northbound on South Pulaski, struck him and did not stop, Chicago police said.
Mills sustained major head and body trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene. A police spokesperson said Tuesday that no suspects were in custody and police are investigating.
Former students and colleagues remembered Mills Tuesday as a dedicated, compassionate educator who was always willing to help.
“It’s hard to imagine Jones College Prep without him,” said Liliana Diaz-Vazquez, 34, a Jones graduate who now works as a bilingual speech-language pathologist for CPS. “When I think of Jones, he’s one of the main staff members that comes to mind.”
Diaz-Vazquez first met Mills when she was in the fourth grade after her mom enrolled her in the All-City Youth Orchestra, where she played saxophone. She remembered Mills as a “friendly person” with a “silly personality” who worked hard to keep things running smoothly in the background during practices.
Diaz-Vazquez later attended Jones College Prep for high school and she said Mills was a friendly face with whom she occasionally exchanged jokes in the hallway. Looking back, Diaz-Vazquez said she now realizes how much personal time Mills committed to helping students and teachers. He wasn’t the type of educator who clocked out after eight hours, she said.
Diaz-Vazquez grew up on the Southwest Side and she said drag racing and speeding along South Pulaski Road from the Stevenson Expressway to 71st Street has been a “huge issue” for a long time. Even though she’s frequently heard of car accidents, she was shocked when she checked Facebook and saw that Mills had been hit.
Charles “Charlie” Mills was a special education classroom assistant at Jones College Prep in Printers Row. He was killed in a hit-and-run accident on March 31, 2024. (Chicago Public Schools)
“I just never thought it would happen to someone I actually know,” she said.
South Pulaski Road, a four-lane thoroughfare on the city’s Southwest Side, has been the site of multiple major crashes and hit-and-runs this year. In just a three-day stretch in February, two people were killed and six others were hospitalized.
On Feb. 8, a white pickup truck struck and killed a 68-year-old woman in the 4300 block of South Pulaski in Archer Heights. The driver fled the scene, and no arrests have been made, police said Tuesday. On Feb. 11, a two-car crash killed one person and left six people in critical condition in the 4200 block of the street.
Erica Schroeder, a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation, said that the city is working with South Side aldermen and community leaders to find ways to make Pulaski Road safer, including pedestrian refuge islands and curb bump-outs.
“Any time a life is lost in a traffic crash it is a tragedy for friends, family, neighbors, and our city,” Schroeder said in a statement. “The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is committed to continually making our streets safer, with an emphasis on improvements for vulnerable road users and community areas with high crash rates.”
Howell said when she heard about the hit-and-run, she thought it was a cruel April Fools’ joke.
“I was just like, is this some type of prank, but then afterwards I felt devastated, completely gutted,” said Howell, who kept in touch with Mills after she graduated high school. “Charlie didn’t deserve to die like this. Charlie deserved to be an old man dying in bed peacefully, not abandoned and alone on the side of the road.”
Jones College Prep Principal Kerry Dolan said in a statement that Mills was a beloved team member who worked primarily with students with disabilities and ran tech for Jones’ art events. In a message to parents and staff, Dolan said clinicians were available for students who needed support.
“He was always smiling and quick to forgive, and so humble. He did anything and everything with a smile, and spent more hours at Jones than almost anybody else,” Dolan said. “He was kind beyond words and a `servant leader’ in every sense of the phrase. The world is a little better for having had Charlie in it.”
For Mills, there was “no job too small” during school events, from props to sets to lighting, said Brennan Roach, the Jones College Prep theater director. He said Mills also ran tech on Saturdays for All-City Performing Arts, a districtwide music, theater and dance program. It was an hourslong commitment each weekend, but Mills was passionate about music and helping students, Roach added.
“Charlie would be the first person in here and the last person to leave on Saturday,” Roach said. “He was just the biggest cheerleader for everyone around here, and such a vessel of knowledge.”
Mills’ willingness to help others wasn’t limited to the school, said Christopher Guerra, a friend and neighbor of Mills for more than 30 years. Mills was a handyman and would offer to fix neighbors’ appliances and tools, Guerra remembered fondly.
“I remember there were times when he had three, four lawnmowers lined up out there to fix,” Guerra, 38, said. “He was always a great guy since we were little kids.”
Guerra said Mills was unmarried but for most of his life had lived with his mother, who passed away several weeks ago.
Guerra said he was devastated when he heard about the hit-and-run from a neighborhood Facebook group.
“(Mills) didn’t deserve that,” Guerra said. “I don’t want him to be remembered as the person who got hit. I want everybody to remember him as the great individual that he was.”
