An all class reunion is taking place at Bennington and someone started a page from the years we were there and this picture of our friend was posted on Facebook. I cried as soon as I saw it. It was a special time. I miss her so much.
A poem: Grief Arrives
In It's Own Time
It doesn't announce itself or knock
on the door of your heart..Suddenly
it's right behind you,
looking with great pity
at the back of your neck
and your shoulders on which
it spends days placing a burden
and lifting it.. Grief arrives
in its own sweet time, sweet
because it lets you know that
you are alive,time because
what you are holding becomes
the only day there is: the sun stops
moving, the sky grows utterly quiet
and impossibly blue..Behind the blue
are the stars we can't see and beyond
the stars either dark or light,
both of which are endless.
by Stuart Kestenbaum..
PEACE AND LOVE TO YOU ALI Suanne
Living in a Philadelphia Row Home on a narrow street, life becomes incidental. If you open your door, your heart, you may feel a new warmth inside your home. I opened my door for Alice. (also known as “Alison” to me)
If you never lived in a small row home, you may wonder about privacy and space, where do the kids play, where are the closets, why do you sit on the front steps, how do you park a car…where is the peace and quiet? If you are looking for tranquility and freedom from disturbance, do not move into a row home.
Besides living on top of each other, we have our own slang. Pavement (pronounced-“payment“) is used instead of sidewalk. We don’t have a living room, we have a parlor (pronounced “pah-ler”). We have a cellar, not a basement. If you live two houses apart from another person--you live “two doors down” from that person.
“Alison” and I lived “two doors down” from each other for almost five years. Alice moved to our street prior to Liam’s arrival. Alice’s brilliant beauty caught my attention. I asked a neighbor who is that woman who just moved in? I thought they said her name was “Alison“. Yes, the name suits her, I told myself. And so I called her, Alison.
Alice never corrected me. Sometimes, I would apologizes for calling her by the wrong name. Alice did not take offense. Alice would not criticize me for calling her by the wrong name. I still think of her as “Alison”. At some point, Alice told me that her father’s name was Alison and he was a medical doctor. Alice was proud of her father’s reputation of not only being prominent and published physician but also the inventor of Maalox.
As Alice and I would sit on the front steps or on her glider rocker outside her home, she would tell me stories about her life--Mount Desert Island, Bar Harbor, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Alice would captivate me with her anecdotes. Sometimes, Alice would start to give me an account of a tragedy, and, we would both end up with uncontrollable laughter. Alice’s quick-witted humor would come out of nowhere. Alice’s sharp wit could turn a misfortune into an accomplishment. Alice charmed you with her sense of humor.
I appreciated Alice spending her time with me, as we sat on the front steps, outside our humble row homes. Alice never had an offensive air of superiority as she lived in Fishtown. Not a snobby bone in her body. Alice’s natural personality was loving, generous and uncritical.
Every day, I walk by Alice’s former home. I look at the old marble steps and remember the Lady that lived in that house. And, sometimes, I cry.
(photo of Alice's Fishtown Home)
The tribute I read at Alice's Memorial on 07/13/2013:
My name is Gigi Solis and Alice and I were best friends. I read something the other day that made me think of Alice. “A good friend is hard to find, hard to lose, and impossible to forget.”
I met Alice on the great lawn at Bennington College in Vermont over twenty years ago. I was instantly drawn to her laugh and her vivacious spirit. I have no recollection as to what we were talking about, it could have been the most mundane topic, but as you know, Alice’s delivery always kept you captivated. I knew immediately that I wanted to be her friend. Those of us who knew her from that period remember her laugh, her wit, her smarts, her ability to instigate the most fun and outrageous activities and of course, her amazing hair. As one of our classmates put it, “She will always be the happy woman with the beautiful hair in the Green Mountain Snow”. About her laugh, another friend said, “Alice’s laugh was contagious. Its sound usually done by a male bird unusually watchful. Don’t worry, says the bird.” She once told me that I was the best thing that Bennington ever gave her and without hesitation, I can say that she was the same for me.
Apart from that infectious laugh of hers, there were so many things I loved about my friend. She was one of the smartest people I have ever known and certainly one of the funniest - with a wicked sense of humor to boot. She could be tough but was also generous and caring. She was always there to give encouragement, advice, a push in the right direction and a thoughtful word when you needed it most. Alice was accomplished at most things she did and took on challenges with a gusto and drive that was both inspiring and exhausting to watch. However, despite all of her accomplishments, I know the role Alice treasured most was that of being mother to Liam, Addy and Franklin. And I see bits of her in each of them and that makes me happy.
It can be difficult to sum up a friendship, a person, or how much someone means to you in a paragraph and it’s especially difficult to capture the essence of Alice Price in words. You just had to know her and most of us here are lucky enough to have shared that privilege. While heartbreaking at times, it’s been a true pleasure talking to Alice’s friends from different times in her life and hearing about what she meant to them. Alice touched our lives which is why so many of us are here today to celebrate her life.
I chose this reading, because to me, Alice was a success. As a friend, as a sister, as a niece, as a granddaughter, as a coworker, as a teacher, as a mother, as a human being - Alice Howe Price was a success. I am honored to have been her friend and she will always be impossible to forget.
Success
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
To laugh often and love much;
to win the respect of intelligent persons
and the affection of children;
to earn the approbation of honest critics
and to endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to give of one’s self;
to leave the world a little better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm
and sung with exultation;
to know that even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived,
this is to have succeeded.
A frog, a cow and a dinosaur “Trick or Treating” with their mom!
When Alice told me that she was taking the kids out to trick or treat, I asked her how is that possible? The twins can not even walk and what about the trick or treating dinosaur? Even a little dinosaur needs some assistance. Alice only laughed and reassured me that she will find a way. “I got it”!
Come Halloween Night, there was Alice with two babies in walkers and a purple dinosaur rolling down Oxford Street. I could only laugh. I learned never to under estimate Alice’s ability to make things happen.
