Alexandra Milmoe

Alexandra Milmoe, 64, passed away on the morning of July 8, 2015 of a rapidly progressive neurological disease. She died peacefully in the presence of her family.

Alex was born in Norwood, Massachusetts on July 13, 1950 to the late Michael & Florence O?Shea and was raised in West Paterson, New Jersey. She was a graduate of Passaic Valley High School, Columbia University School of Nursing and Russell Sage College, where she received a master?s degree.

Alex shared her life with her husband, Cornelius Milmoe, whom she married on August 25, 1973 and their four children: Anne, Stephen, Christopher and Andrew. She lived in Albany, NY, Burlington, VT, Andover, MA, Wilmington, NC and Washington, DC before moving to Breckenridge, Colorado in 2014.

Alex lived her life with exuberance, compassion, independence and purpose. She loved to ski, hike, raft and travel. She hiked nearly 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail, adopting the trail name ?Flora? for her flowered clothing. She climbed Mount Katahdin, Mount Washington and many peaks in Colorado. She skied more than 60 days for several winters, often with a group of friends in Breckenridge known as ?Babes in the Bumps.? She rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, bungy jumped in New Zealand and saw the Northern Lights in Churchill, Manitoba. She trekked in Patagonia and visited cultural and historic sites in Europe, Japan and the Holy Land.

Her interests varied from gardening and crocheting, to playing the piano and reading. She enjoyed going to the movies and the theater and loved learning new things, especially about art and nature. Everywhere she lived, she was active in book clubs and the church. Her work as a nurse fostered a lifetime interest in caring for children and helping those less fortunate. Beginning in 1995, she volunteered every summer as a counselor at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a camp for seriously ill children which was beloved by her late son Stephen.

In addition to her husband and children, she leaves behind a granddaughter, Dominique Avellana; two brothers, Michael & Larry O?Shea; and seven nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday, July 15 at 11am at St. Mary?s Church at 109 S. French Street, Breckenridge, CO. A memorial service will be held at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, CT on Sunday, July 26 at noon. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Stephen Milmoe Fund at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, 555 Long Wharf Drive, New Haven, CT 06511. Friends are encouraged to leave a note for the Milmoe Family on Alex?s CaringBridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/alexmilmoe.