“Millie” to all who knew her, was a remarkable woman, wife, mother and teacher. She was born Jan. 26, 1940 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. She grew up on a farm in Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania in Washington County. Her mother and grandmother taught her to cook many dishes from the old country, and also taught her the culture and traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church. Milli graduated as the valedictorian of her class at Ellsworth High School. Then it was on to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for a degree in chemistry. Milli ultimately earned a Master’s degree in Metallurgy from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She started her career in Cleveland working for General Electric at Nela Park. Her next step was a job with Republic Steel at their research center, where she became an expert in the development of alloy steel for the company’s Bar Division. Her job took her to many different places during her career. She went to Japan, Korea, France and England.
Milli was a voracious reader. She read everything from technical papers and articles to paperback romance novels. She had a classically trained singing voice, and sang in numerous church choirs during her life. She loved to sing and play the piano, especially with her sister.
Milli’s greatest enthusiasm was reserved for her family. She was a wonderful wife, mother, cook and hostess. She loved to entertain her family at her home, especially during the holidays of Christmas and Easter.
Milli was an independent woman who often said she was as smart and capable as any man, and could make her own decisions. She spent her life doing just that. She fought a long and partially victorious battle with cancer. But in the end, the long term effects of that battle caused her to decline and spend the last 10 years of her life in a nursing home. But she never complained and she never gave up. She passed peacefully on Aug. 12, 2016, surrounded by her family. She is survived by her sister Antoinette (Toni) Robinson, nieces Andrea Jones and Catherine Napoli, Charles her husband, her son Norman, and numerous cousins and other relatives.
Her family requests that donations be made to the American Cancer Society in her memory.
