Sylvia Millrood, 82, matriarch with an eye for fashion

Sylvia Millrood always seemed to be building and creating things. She led a life that made a quote from her high school yearbook seem prescient 60 years later.

Mrs. Millrood was “always on the go with a cheery smile, with everyone hustling and bustling around her,” read the passage when she graduated from Olney High in 1955.

Following brief stints at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, Sylvia married Bernie Millrood in 1957 when she was 20. They quickly started a family with twins the following year. She would have five more children and then 16 grandchildren, which provided decades of hustle and bustle.

Mrs. Millrood was a full-time mom with a part-time gig as an amateur couturier. She designed and crafted prom dresses for local girls and the wedding gowns for each of her daughters and daughters-in-law, including the bridesmaids’ gowns.

“If there was a special affair, she had her handprint on it with her own creativity and design,” said son Tobi.

The Millroods were living in Radnor in the early 1970s when a local synagogue folded. With Mrs. Millrood leading the way, a new one was built from the ground up. Congregation Or Shalom, now in Berwyn, was founded when the Millroods placed a newspaper ad in 1974 to gauge neighbors’ interest.

Mrs. Millrood painted artwork that the family plans to share for generations.

They expected maybe 10 people to show up at their home. They welcomed more than 50.

“Or Shalom” means “light of peace,” and Mrs. Millrood brought both. Her firm but polite guidance, Tobi said, persuaded local school officials to recognize Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.

“She went to the superintendent and very calmly explained the importance of the holidays, the High Holidays,” he said with a laugh. “Radnor schools have been off ever since.”

Besides the dresses, Mrs. Millrood painted artwork that the family plans to share for generations. Jake, her 11-year-old grandson, has created a virtual museum.

“She was a remarkable woman. The number of people who’ve shown up for [virtual] Shiva, the tributes they’ve shared, the emails I’ve gotten from people whose lives she touched,” Tobi said. “We always had some idea of it, but when it all comes together at once, it takes your breath away.”

In addition to her son and grandchildren, Mrs. Millrood is survived by children Gary, Ben, Rachel, Daniel, Ethan, and Rebecca. She was predeceased by her husband.

— Ed Barkowitz