Millicent "Millie" Scott Norloff

millicent
Millicent Scott Norloff (nee Millicent Ruth Scott)

Physicist, Mother, Editor

Millicent Scott Norloff, 93, a resident of Vienna, VA, for 67 years, died August 8 in INOVA Fairfax Hospital of natural causes.

Born November 8, 1928, in White Plains, NY, Millie grew up as a child of the Depression, which contributed to her lifelong thrift. Millie graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1948 with a degree in Physics. A year later the solid-state transistor was invented and the physics world changed. She took more classes to learn about this new science that eventually produced what we now know as computer chips.

Millie worked at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology). She married Paul Alexander Norloff in 1950. They moved to Vienna, VA, in 1954 where they have lived in the same house since then. Paul died in 2008.

Millie and Paul enjoyed folk music and square dancing. Paul was a HiFi music enthusiast. Millie learned instead of shouting to get Paul's attention when he was listening to music, to merely stand in front of the speaker tower.

Millie was a stickler for proper English writing, punctuation, and spelling. She was an Editor and Proof Reader for the Five Hills Garden Club yearbook for years. Millie was an active member of Five Hills for most of her life in Vienna, particularly enjoying serving on the Town Beautification Committee, and handmaking live Christmas wreaths with her co-members and dear friends. She was their most tenured member.

Millie knitted and crocheted all her life, keeping her hands busy, and provided hats, mittens, and toys for family and friends. She also produced countless warm hats for premature infants and those in need, wool helmet liners for our service men and women, and blankets for refugees.

Millie and Paul enjoyed the 3-person Thistle class sailboat, sailing and racing with family and friends. After Paul's retirement in 1986, he and Millie travelled the US and Canada in a small RV, sometimes trailering the sailboat, too. They made lifelong friends in the travel and sailing communities.

Millie is survived by her sons Chris of Falls Church and Pete of Oakton, her daughter Melissa Wagner of Centreville, eight grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

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  1. Millie was a favorite of the Thistle family at PRSA! My husband and I enjoyed her, and her husband Paul, as we spent 2 years racing there 1970-72. We kept in touch after moving to Boston. Paul and Millie visited us twice over recent years, in their mobile “home”parked in our driveway! Miss you both!


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