Selma
Pearl Borenstein was born in 1930, in Boston, to Gertrude and Emanuel
Borenstein. She died May 13, 2024, at her home in Bennington, Vt.
Selma was the mother of Margaux Milchen, of Aurora, Colo., and Jeff
Milchen, of Colchester, Vt. She is also survived by Jeff’s wife,
Jennifer Rockne; granddaughter, Layla Krens, of Orlando, Fla.; and
husband, Joe, and their daughter, Emma.
After
public schooling in Newton, Mass., Selma attended Smith College,
before graduating cum laude from Boston University with a BS in
speech and theater. Selma loved the arts, singing professionally,
teaching modern dance and acting with the Framingham Community
Theatre. She had a scholarship in the opera department at Tanglewood,
where she sang in the Berlioz Requiem under Seiji Ozawa years later.
Selma
married Alvin Milchen in 1954; they divorced in 1974. While living in
Framingham (1957– 1982), Selma served on the board of the League of
Women Voters and on the Framingham Area Fair Housing Committee. She
earned an MS from Worcester State University in communication
disorders in 1981.
The
next year, she moved to Shaftsbury, Vt., to work as a speech and
language pathologist in the public schools, retiring in 1995. She
sang with the Bennington County Choral Society for 37 years and wrote
concert reviews for the Bennington Banner for five years, until
someone changed her “Baroque Flavor” to “Barbecue Flavor.”
She
served on the board of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of
Bennington, where she was a member since 1982. She volunteered with
the Community of Vermont Elders, the Bennington County Coalition for
the Homeless, and she was active with the American Association of
University Women for many years. Selma loved dogs and adopted three
from Second Chances.
Donations
in Selma’s memory may be made to the UU Fellowship of Bennington or
the Bennington Coalition for the Homeless.
Gratitude
to everyone at Bayada hospice care, At Home, and friends and
neighbors who helped so much during Selma’s final years.
This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2024.