Remembering Millie Rosenstein

Millie Rosenstein was a firebrand who passed away on Tuesday at the tender age of 96. She was a favorite KCRW volunteer for years well into her early 90’s. We were lucky for her enormous presence.

The thing I most remember about Millie is the day she showed me a picture of her as a little girl. She couldn’t have been more than three. She was wearing a little white dress with a an enormous white bow in her hair. She had short bangs and a little bob hairdo. I was struck by how historic the photo looked to me. Right out of the pages of a history book. I was fascinated. I had asked her to bring the photo in and after that day, I asked her to bring it back again. I couldn’t believe that the perfectly sharp and active woman who sat across from me every week had a photo that old. She was historic, yes. And monumental, as well as brimming with experiences and knowledge that she never lectured me with – but she was not old. Somehow, because of her long life and keen eye, she was always contemporary in her thoughts. I often asked Millie about the past, but she never failed to bring the conversation back to the present in very important ways. She feared nothing. I remember laughing in amazement when I received Millie’s first email announcing that she’d stepped into the internet (in her early 90’s)!

It was an honor when I took my husband and baby to meet Millie at her assisted living facility a few months ago (she had found it hard to move). It meant a lot to me for my baby daughter to see and touch a monumental woman. I love you Millie.

Connie Alvarez

KCRW Director of Volunteer Services