Millard Everett Rives, slipped away to his eternal home in the early morning hours of Veteran's Day, Sunday, November 11, 2012. He fell asleep beside his beloved wife of sixty years, Annie Lee Bishop Rives, and awoke in the presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Born on December 9, 1922, he spent his early years in the rural farming community of Kipling, North Carolina. In 1933, the depression forced his father, a railway station agent and telegraph operator, to move the family to Washington, D.C. in hopes of finding better jobs and a more secure future. Five years later, he would move again – this time to Leesburg, Virginia.
Following graduation from Leesburg High School in 1942, he became a cadet at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia. In April of 1943, he was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Corps. From Christmas of 1944 until the war in Europe ended, he served with the 12th Air Force as a radio operator/gunner on B25's operating from bases on Corsica and Italy.
After the war, he attended broadcasting school and worked as an announcer in commercial radio. Later, his interests and training would lead him to work as an engineering technician in radio and television. In 1955, he was employed by the United States Information Agency, Voice of America, and in 1977, he was appointed as a Foreign Service Reserve Officer serving as a Television Broadcast Supervisor until his retirement in April of 1980.
Mr. Rives was a member of Clarendon Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia, for many years where he served as a Sunday School teacher and Chairman of Deacons. More recently, he was a member of Leesburg Baptist Church, where he and his wife had been married on November 8, 1952. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his three daughters, Susan, Linda and Nancy, along with three grandchildren, Seth, Heather and Sarah, all of whom he loved dearly.

Family and friends are invited to a time of visitation and to share the memories on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. at the Colonial Funeral Home, 201 Edwards Ferry Rd NE, Leesburg, VA 20176. A service is scheduled for Thursday, November 15, 2012 starting at 11:00 a.m. at Colonial Funeral Home. Burial to follow at Union Cemetery.