OBITUARIES : Ruth Mills; Former Talk Show Host

Ruth Mills, who made her first radio broadcast in 1930 when she was 42 and her last in 1984 when she was 96, died Wednesday at a Santa Monica nursing home. She had celebrated her 100th birthday on Feb. 2.

Known in this area for her longtime program on National Public Radio station KCRW “The Art of Being Your Age,” Mrs. Mills was chosen to read the Preamble to the Constitution to the nation when National Public Radio presented a daylong tribute to America’s 200th birthday on July 4, 1976.

Mrs. Mills was a radio talk show moderator in Cleveland and Philadelphia before moving to Santa Monica. In 1973, when she was 85, she began to work with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program and from that grew her half-hour interview program on KCRW.

She played host to guests ranging from gerontologists to a herpetologist who was accompanied by a boa constrictor. She prided herself on programming a fast-paced 30-minute show with no dead spaces.

She was one of the first recipients of the Freedom Foundation awards. Hers was given her by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1950 for her contributions to Americana.

Four years ago with her health failing slightly, she gave up the radio program but not the classes that she continued to take at Santa Monica College.

“I try to keep up on everything. If I don’t learn something new each day, I feel that I have wasted my time,” she had said in an interview.