Millicent ('Millie' (Felton)) Neusner

Millicent Neusner was born on 5/7/1924 in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and died in West Hartford on 12/24/2017. Her parents, Russian Jewish immigrants, owned a drug store in Manhattan.Her older brother and only sibling, the late Phliip Felton,like his father, became a pharmacist. Millie graduated from the Abraham Lincoln High School at the age of 16, and graduated from Booklyn College at 20, in 1944. She subsequently pursued the study of romance languages at the Latin American Institute and worked as a Spanish-English secretary for an export firm in New York. Millie’s first marriage was to Peter Silverstone, of West Hartford. They lived in New York, where she gave birth to their daughter, Jo Ann. Following Peter’s death from melanoma, Millie married Frederick Neusner, and they moved to West Hartford, where she gave birth to their son David . Millie was first employed as a messenger girl for Western Union in New York City at the age of 16.After the death of her first husband, she took over his job at the Herman Miller furniture company. When Millie moved to West Hartford, the public elementry schools did not have libraries. As a volunteer, Millicent created a library at the Duffy School, which Jo Ann attended; this later became a professional paid position.She obtained her master’s degree in library science at Southern Connecticut State University in 1969. Millie and Fred moved to Washington DC in 1979. She then worked in Montgomery County, Maryland as a children’s librarian and was also the president of her union, Local 400 of the UFCW. Millie moved back to West Hartford, to the McCauley, in 2009. She ran the library there, as a volunteer, and was actively advocating for the reading needs of the residents until her death. Millie had an unparalleled gift for friendship. She loved music, popular and classical. She loved art and theatre, including the classic Broadway musicals of the 60’s, which she took her family to see. She followed politics closely and was an ardent Democrat. Millie leaves behind her son, David Neusner, of New London, Connecticut; her daughter, Jo Ann Neusner, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and four grandchildren - Alex, Gabriella, Julie, and Peter Neusner. Her second husband, Frederick Neusner, died in Tampa, Florida in 2014. The memorial service will be held at The McCauley, 275 Steele Road, West Hartford, Connecticut, Sunday, January 21 at 2 p.m. Donations in her memory may be made to Brooklyn College.

Service Date: 01/01/1970