DOING HER FAMILY PROUD BY ALLISON ROST When Theresa “Terry” Loewy Breyer enrolled at Mills in 1933,
only did she know her stuff, but we got to furnish our house!”
she was carrying on a family legacy that also saw her mother
Baker says. “Antiques Roadshow is still one of her favorite shows.”
and aunt attend the College when it was still known as the
“I made a good thing out of [Laurel House], and I had lots of
Young Ladies Seminary. But when she collected her diploma
fun doing it,” Breyer adds. She’s even given lectures on antiques
four years later, it was her father who cried. He had never gone
at San Francisco Towers, the retirement community where she
to college himself, but he married a Mills alumna and sent two
has lived since the facility opened 23 years ago.
daughters there. (Breyer’s sister Hazel-Clair Loewy Dwoskin graduated in 1943.)
At 104, Breyer still shows off her style—she dresses in cardigans and pearls, and the walls of her apartment are decorated
Fast-forward more than 80 years, and Terry Breyer still shares
with prints from Laurel House. She enjoys playing bridge with
her father’s pride in her Mills degree. In the apartment where
other residents and reading the newspaper, and relatives come
she lives mostly on her own, among decades of family photo-
by frequently; she’s known as Gigi to her seven grandchildren
graphs, her diploma always sits on a special stand—and not just
and 10 great-grandchildren. A recent visit from the newest
when a Mills-related visitor is coming by. “Of course I’m proud of
great-grandchild, at 8 months old, was a popular attraction for
it,” she says. “I’ve taken good care of it.”
many of Breyer’s neighbors.
At Mills, Breyer lived in Orchard Meadow and majored in
While neither of Breyer’s two daughters went to Mills—Baker
economics, particularly enjoying classes with Professor Glenn
“considered it,” she says—the family connection to the College has
Hoover. “Terry has always had an affinity for numbers,” says her
lived on. Breyer’s aunt, Rose Loewy Coleman, had a son named
daughter, Barbara Baker.
Clarence who married Joan Feldman, the daughter of Florence
Despite her family legacy, Breyer did not grow up in the Bay
Bloch Feldman ’21. Clarence and Joan sent their two daughters,
Area—she was born in Stockton, but she spent her childhood in
Barbara Coleman Frey ’68 and Elinor Coleman ’71, to Mills, and
Seattle. Ever since meeting and marrying the late Stan Breyer, a
several grandchildren attended the Mills Children’s School.
graduate of UC Berkeley and a San Francisco native, she has lived in Northern California. The two wed not long after Breyer’s grad-
And that strong Mills connection came entirely through her proud papa.
uation from Mills and moved to San Francisco, later relocating to Kentfield in Marin County with their three children. There, she co-managed and volunteered at Laurel House Antiques, the consignment store at the Ross Art & Garden Center, for several decades, pairing her economics degree with her love of decorating and helping others find hidden gems for their homes. “Not 32
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
This is the second in a series of stories celebrating the lives of Mills alumnae who have reached the century mark. Are you (or do you know of) someone who we should feature? Tell us about the centenarian Mills graduates in your life at quarterly@mills.edu or 510.430.3312.
