Obituary of Rex Millsap

Millsap, Rex of Saginaw Township, passed away on Tuesday evening, May 20, 2014 at age 81 from pulmonary cardiac arrest. Rexell Blaine Millsap was born at home in Mansfield, Missouri on December 2, 1932 to the late Lloyd O. and N. Marie (Jones) Millsap. As a child Rex had a horse named Flicka and attended a one-room schoolhouse until his family moved to Birmingham, MI in 1941. Rex graduated from Birmingham's Baldwin High School in 1950. At Western Michigan University he was a founding member of the college's chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, graduating in 1954 with a BS in Business Administration. On July 3, 1954 at St. Anne Chapel, Grosse Ile, MI, Rex married the late Jacquie Koonmen, they would divorce on February 14, 1980. Rex married Elaine M. Troutman on September 17, 1983 at their home in Saginaw Township. Rex began his military service in 1954, completing an Army military intelligence program in Baltimore, MD before being stationed in Kalamazoo, MI and honorably discharged in 1956. Rex accepted a position with the mechanical contracting firm John E. Green Co., a company he had worked for during his high school and college summers. In 1961, at age 28, the company requested that Rex establish and manage an office in Saginaw. During his career, Rex was featured in an industry magazine as their annual top young executive. He was active with the Saginaw Valley Association of Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors, Inc., serving as president twice, 1969 to 1971 and 1988 to 1991. Rex would retire after 45 years from John E. Green Company holding the position of Executive Vice President on December 31, 1994. Throughout his life, Rex enjoyed gardening, music, especially saxophonist Tex Beneke and Glen Campbell, all electronic devices, John Wayne and James Bond films and his African Grey parrot, Cannon, who predeceased him at age 30 in 2011. As a Saginaw Country Club member, he enjoyed golfing for over 40 years. In his later years, Rex enjoyed historical non-fiction on cd and taking his grandchildren out for ice cream. Surviving Rex are his wife Elaine and four children: Debbie A. Millsap, Oscoda, Cheryl M. Millsap, Beaverton, Andrew G. Millsap, Saginaw and Scott A. (Becky) Millsap, Grand Blanc. He is also survived by his grandchildren Jenna M. Millsap and Dustin M. Millsap, stepson William H. (Marla) Troutman, Norfolk, VA, brother Gerald W. (Cathy) Millsap, Lake Geneva, WI and aunts Blanche (Millsap) Fannin, Roseville, CA and Ilene (Jones) Tashjian, Visalia, CA. Rex will be remembered for his innovative and brilliant mind, charm, tenaciousness, generosity, immaculate lawn, flowers that cascaded out of their containers and the twinkle in his blue green eyes when something tickled him, which his grandchildren often did. VISITATION: Visitation with the family will be 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Friday, June 6, 2014 at Deisler Funeral Home, 2233 Hemmeter Rd., Saginaw. Interment will be held in private at Chapel Hill Mausoleum and Cemetery, Freeland, MI. Rex was impressed with the surgical advancements of the Otorhinolaryngology Department at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and memorial contributions may be made to the Head and Neck Cancer Research Fund, payable to: Trustees of UPenn; please include Rex Millsap on the memo line and mail to: Penn Medicine Development, c/o Caitlin Crowe, 3535 Market Street, Ste. 750, Philadelphia, PA, 19104. Please share your thoughts with the family through www.DeislerFuneralHome.com