February 2, 2025
REST IN PEACE
Millie died February 2, 2025, after a fall near her St. Paul home. A beloved community elder, Montessori guide, peace activist, accomplished seamstress, and avid family researcher, Millie was an expert on birth, bonding, and prenatal/perinatal holistic health who supported new parents through educational counseling and as a postpartum doula.
Millicent Bernadotte was born on December 7, 1939 to Edward Francis and Ellen Cecilia Cullen Adams at Swedish Hospital, Minneapolis, MN. Millie was the fifth of six children born into a loving family, the third born to Ellen. Ed's first wife Mildred Evelyn McDonald Adams had died in 1933. Ed and Ellen married in 1935.
In 1944-53, Millie attended Annunciation Catholic grade school and delighted in scouting, the family paper route, choir, campfire singing, roller skating, sledding and snow forts. She learned the lifelong skill of sewing from her mother and in the 1990s would develop a little business called Thimblework.
At the Academy of the Holy Angels, she loved her college prep classes, especially English and Art History, but it was her involvement in Contact—a youth movement at the Catholic Youth Center—that drew Millie into peace activism and community organizing. Inspired by the leadership of Father Joseph Baglio and Beverly Sievers, Millie worked on the CYC summer staff and immersed herself in retreats, fundraising, and Catholic Action training at Grailville, OH.
In 1957, Millie entered the Poor Clares monastery in Bloomington, MN, joining her older sister Madonna. Millie left the convent in 1967, worked one year at the Singer Company in downtown Minneapolis, and then moved to Duluth to attend the University of Minnesota in January 1969. In April 1970, she moved to Manhattan Beach, California.
On August 13, 1971, Millie married Terence Dosh in Minneapolis, and they made their home first in Manhattan Beach, renting an apartment two blocks from the lovely beach, and then in San Pedro, CA. Their two sons, Martin Luther King Chavez (1972) and Paul Gandhi Joseph (1974) were born in Kaiser Permanente Hospital (Harbor City) with Terry present. In 1974, Millie and Terry returned to Minneapolis to raise their sons among family, buying a home at 4124 Harriet Avenue South.
Millie developed a keen interest in Montessori pedagogy, and in April 1977 the boys enrolled at Lake Country School, which became a central community to the Dosh family. Millie admired the egalitarian culture fostered by school founders Pat & Larry Schaefer. Between 1979 and 2010, Millie worked as a staff member in roles including secretary, Research Center director, Children's House guide (1983-88, 1989-92), and elementary support. After retirement, Millie remained engaged with Lake Country as a grandparent, organizer of retired staff, and honorary school archivist.
She valued the ritual of liturgy and belonging to a Catholic community as a place to cultivate dialogue and nurture understanding. Millie and Terry found a home at the Minneapolis Newman Center (1983-98) where she engaged in the peace movement that opposed US militarism in Central America and advocated for non-violence in our schools, faith communities, and families. In 1985, after training in the Montessori-based Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, Millie offered this program for children at Newman until it closed in 1998. She continued to support the Catechesis program at St Frances Cabrini Church (1998-2025) where she served on committees, baked bread, sewed, and sang music that she loved in the choir for 26 years.
Millie earned her BA in Anthropology (Latin American, African and African-American Cultures) at the U of MN in Minneapolis (1978, Phi Beta Kappa); an AMI Montessori diploma under the training of Chulanganee Fernando at St. Thomas College in St. Paul (1983); and an MA in Human Development at St. Mary's University of Minnesota (1997), with a focus on bonding, attachment, and pre/perinatal psychology and health. She trained in breastfeeding support, worked as a postpartum doula, and attended six APPPAH congresses, serving on the national board as secretary. In 1998, Millie organized a conference on birth psychology—the Baby Summit—drawing 250 participants. She viewed parenting as the most important job in the world and one in need of lifelong support.
Millie's hospitality was legendary and a global network knew that the door was always open at 4124 Harriet. Millie and Terry shared a delight in travel grounded in community. Everywhere Millie went—across the U.S. and often to Europe, but also Mexico, Ecuador, South Africa, Greenland, and especially Toronto and Ireland—friends generously opened their homes. A dedicated family researcher, Millie's visits to Ireland allowed her to reconstruct the history of her immigrant grandparents John Curran Cullen and Bridget Mary Parsons. Millie obtained an Irish passport and, in 2017-22, led four more Ireland trips, bringing grandnieces and grandchildren to meet their cousins in County Mayo. On a solo trip in 2021, she packed only walking sticks, a daypack, and her inviting smile, exploring new parts of the Emerald Isle by bus and train.
In 2016, Terry died from Parkinson's, and in 2019 Millie moved to St. Paul to live down the street from Paul's family, whom she loved seeing each day.
Millie's parents, three siblings (Mary Theresa Storms, James and John Adams), and cherished husband Terry await her homecoming. Her beloved siblings Madonna and Edward Adams survive her and miss the transforming beauty of her faith and presence, and the joy of hearing her laugh.
Millie took great pride in Martin's career as a musician and Paul's work as a political science professor. Martin (Erin), Paul (Andrea Galdames), her four grandchildren (Tadhg Bolen, Naoise Dosh, Araminta and Mateo Dosh Galdames), and many nieces and nephews dearly miss fresh rolls and chicken dinner at Grandma's, State Fair trips, and lessons in sewing and family history.
Services at St Frances Cabrini Church, 1500 Franklin Ave SE, Minneapolis. Visitation on Friday, February 21, 2025, 3:30-6:30 pm, followed by Vespers at 6:30 pm. Eucharist of Christian Burial on Saturday, February 22, 2025, 10 am, followed by lunch at the Market at Malcolm Yards, 501 30th Ave SE, Minneapolis. Millie's body will be transported at 1:30 pm and laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery, New Richland, Waseca, MN about 3:30 pm. Thanks to First Memorial Waterston for their assistance. Memorials suggested to Lake Country School, Catholic Relief Services, or others in need.