Ain't no stopping her By Hinda Mandell / CORRESPONDENT Friday, August 29, 2003

At 90, Rose Milner is always on the go

For Rose Milner, lunchtime doesn't mean spending 30 minutes relaxing in her office. The spry 90 year old is always on the go at the Hearing Care Center in Canton as she tends to office business.

While her steps are no longer bouncy, Milner, who was born in Chelsea, moves about the Cobb's Corner office with careful purpose and conviction. Since her husband's death four years ago, Milner has devoted her days to full time work at her son Paul's audiology practice.

He has been in private practice for 14 years and conducts a full range of services in evaluation and hearing aid fitting.

Paul, 62, who was educated at MIT, explained that "one of the most unique things about our practice is that we are a full team that works together very well."

Milner is very much a part of that team.

"I do everything," she said, " I send out statements, birthday cards, I bill HMO's when they don't pay, make appointments, whatever has to be done."

Milner also makes the center's patients, who are often nervous about their hearing condition, feel less jittery and more relaxed. Paul explained that his team "purposely creates a non-threatening environment" to make his patients feel more comfortable.

"Of course my mother helps with that, offering them tea and mandel bread," he said, referring to a traditional Jewish cookie.

The staff at the center eats lunch together every day and each of them has the responsibility of bringing lunch for the crew a few times a week. When it's Milner's turn, she picks up some food items at the grocery the night before and always takes a homemade treat to the office. While she cannot bring herself to prepare meals for one since the death of her husband, George, she still loves to bake for her friends, family and the people she greets each day at the office.

Milner always tries to make life easier for those around her. As Phyllis Cohen, office manager of the Hearing Care Center, gets up to clear the lunch debris, Milner shoos her away with kindness. "That's not your job," she said, not wanting to burden the office manager with the task of domesticity.

Cohen shakes her head in amazement. "We're a team," she said, explaining that everyone shares in all of the responsibilities around the office.

When Cohen finally relents, the phone begins to ring and Mrs. Milner says,

"I'll get it." She rises once more from her lunch to attend to business.

Paul explained that when his mother first joined the team full time four years ago, "We didn't know how much she would do but now we can't do without her."

He said that when she recently went on vacation to visit a friend for two weeks, "The office fell apart."

Clearly embarrassed by such praise, Milner waved her hand at her son, quietly telling him that he exaggerates.

"It's therapy for me," she says of her job at the office, and does not accept payment for her work.

Besides work at the Hearing Care Center, music also occupies much of Milner's time and devotion outside of the office. She is a trained classical pianist who particularly favors Chopin. However, due to arthritis in her hands, she can no longer play as capably as she once could. The difficulties she now experiences while playing the piano, "Brought tears from my eyes because I felt so frustrated," she explained.

Milner does not complicate her life with long beauty routines or trendy fads for healthy living. She lives simply and with common sense.

"I've been exercising every morning since Paul was born," she said. Milner also takes a multivitamin every day on doctor's orders and a Tums after every meal for the calcium. The only beauty product she uses is lipstick.

With lunchtime over, Milner finishes straightening up the back office where the staff congregates for lunch.

It's only 1 p.m. and it's time to get back to work.

"There's always something to be done," Milner said.