Remembering Alice
Alice Ann Self Hunt
February 21, 1935 - December 22, 2018
Alice's story written with love by Sabrina, her eldest daughter, January - February 2019
Celebration of Life in Minden, Nevada, on March 23, 2019
Brilliance. This is a word often used to describe Alice. She was brilliant when it came to mathematics and sciences, her creativity was boundless, and her work ethic was incredibly strong. Alice persevered through many hardships and difficulties during her life and became all the more resilient.
She was strong, independent, and proud. She lived her life her own way.
Alice could play a mighty mean game of Chicken Foot or Mexican Train.
She did not care for chocolate … or so she said.
Red was Alice's favorite color. She also loved Margaritas and field fresh strawberries with cream.
Alice Ann Self was born on February 21, 1935, in Tahoka, Lynn County, Texas, to John C Self and Jimmie Leda Martin Self. Alice was the second child born to John and Leda, her older sister, Merle Genevieve was born on January 27, 1934, and younger brother, Jimmy Carl was born on January 15, 1940. All three children were born at home on the farm. Alice's middle name was in honor of Ann West, the physician who made the house call to deliver her at 7:05am.
As a child, Alice excelled in school. She adored dolls and all animals, but especially kittens. Alice loved reading, swinging high on the swing set or tree tire, using the jump rope and playing jacks. She learned to hand sew when she was five years old and started dressing her own dolls. She later advanced to using her mother's Singer treadle sewing machine and became an accomplished seamstress of her own clothing by her early teen years. Alice worked hard and always put forth her best effort in whatever she did. As a young girl of the 1930's and 40's, Alice learned all the proper domestic chores, sewing, cooking, cleaning, knitting, and did exceptionally well at them. However, she was also a "tom boy" and loved to play rough and tough, and she loved science and math. It seems Alice was ahead of her time.
John and Leda moved their young family many times; John was a carpenter turned salesman who was constantly searching for work. The Great Depression and the Dustbowl of the 1930's, and World War II were hard on the family. In February 1940, when Jim was just a few weeks old, the family moved from Tahoka to New Mexico. They spent two years in Portales, another year in Clovis, and then returned to Portales, staying until August 1946. At that time, they moved to Oregon. Alice completed her elementary school years in Blachly, and went on to junior high school in Springfield and later Ashland, one of her favorite places. In June of 1949, the family was living in Happy Camp, Siskiyou County, California, near the Klamath River. Alice attended Happy Camp High School (part of Mount Shasta High School) for her freshman year, where she excelled and was a member of the California Scholastic Federation, was an Honors Student, freshman class treasurer, and a member of the Girls League. After only one year, the family was back in Tahoka in June 1950, and Alice began her sophomore year at Tahoka High School in the fall. Shortly after school began, the family moved to Lubbock and into a house on Grinnell Street, not far from Tahoka, and Alice transferred to Thomas S. Lubbock High School. She graduated high school in May 1953. During high school, Alice worked as a sales woman at the iconic F.W. Woolworth Company department store in Lubbock.
After high school graduation, Alice enrolled in a Western Union Trade School and spent the summer in Oklahoma City, before enrolling for the fall 1953 term at Texas Technological College (later became Texas Technological University). During her sophomore and junior years at Tech, Alice worked as an automatic telex operator for Western Union, using her skills learned at the Oklahoma trade school. She used a telephone network system with printing typewriters to help deliver messages over phone lines. This seems to be early text messaging, again ahead of her time! Alice also worked for a year as a secretary, beginning in September 1956, at Holland Hearing Center in Lubbock.
While at Tech, in December 1956, Alice earned membership in Kappa Mu Epsilon, a national Honor Society in Mathematics. Alice also met and fell in love with another Tech student, Glenn Edwin Hunt. Glenn was equally enamored with science and mathematics, and together they made quite the pair. Alice and Glenn were married during her junior year at Tech, on April 19, 1957, in Dallas, Texas; Alice's Uncle Gerald McCollom performed the ceremony. Alice wore a suit of blue silk shantung, she added rhinestone jewelry and a white hat, and she carried white roses. Her sister, Genevieve, was matron of honor, and wore a blue silk shantung dress and carried pink roses.
After Glenn's graduation from Tech in August 1957, the couple moved to Ames, Iowa, so that he could pursue his PhD in Chemistry at Iowa State University. Alice and Glenn lived in a small trailer in married student housing on campus, and she typed thesis papers for graduate students to earn money while waiting for their first child to be born. The Iowa winter was particularly frigid that year, and Alice's parakeet froze to death in their trailer. Alice said that the only reason she survived was that she was pregnant!
Because of the impending arrival of their baby, Alice and Glenn needed to change their future plans. He gave up working on his advanced degree and the prospects of working for a large chemical company, and applied for teaching positions. In late May, 1958, the day that Alice went into labor, Glenn was traveling back to Ames from Riverside, California, by train, where he had just signed on as a Chemistry professor at Riverside City College. While aboard the train, Glenn received a telegram announcing that Sabrina had been born. In August of that year, the family traveled to California after a short visit with family and friends in Texas. Alice was never so happy to leave Iowa, especially for sunny and warm Southern California.
After living in trailers and mobile homes, the family traded up in March 1959 for a cute, tiny green house with an A-frame front doorway on Cinnabar Drive in Riverside, not far from the Rubidoux Drive-In Theater. They lived on Cinnabar Drive until September 1961, when the state of California began making plans to change US-60 by routing the freeway right behind their home, so they moved across town into a house on Buckingham Place, which was nicer and farther away from the freeway. This neighborhood was newer, and came without much landscaping in the backyard. One of the first projects Alice and Glenn did was build a patio, since the backyard was just dirt. The design of the cement flooring was completely unique; they set smooth black river stones into large chemical symbol patterns. Only they knew what the symbols all meant, but Sabrina grew up thinking that most people had a patio just like it. Sabrina also grew up thinking that most parents played games with wooden molecule models. Even though she did not understand them at the time, they were fun to take apart and put back together! Over the years, Alice and Glenn also made Sabrina a wood A-frame playhouse with blue Dutch doors adorned with hearts and roses; it was so much fun to use with friends and pets. The A-frame shape may have been inspired by their first house on Cinnabar Drive. Alice and Sabrina loved to swing on the swing set next to the playhouse.
As Sabrina grew older, Alice returned to school to finish her degree at the University of Redlands. She graduated in August 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, with a minor in Chemistry. Following graduation, Alice began working at Autonetics, in Anaheim, in September 1962. She was a research engineer and computer programmer using Assembler and FORTRAN languages, and mainly worked on software that guided the Minuteman missiles. Alice's work required access to classified material under contract with the US Armed Forces; a Department of Defense security clearance was necessary.
With Alice's technical work, she needed a creative outlet. While living at the Buckingham house, Alice and Sabrina began taking ceramics classes and learned how to throw pottery on both electric and kick wheels and how to build slab projects; Alice made an abundance of creations. One of Alice's favorite places to visit was the Pottery Shack in Laguna Beach. She found much inspiration there and came home to try creating her own version of what she saw. Many family members continue to cherish her ceramic pieces. Alice and Glenn made many sets of resin grapes, and gave them as gifts, too. Some grapes were set onto corkboard wall displays and others were made to sit upon a table or shelf. Alice excelled in large crewel embroidery pieces and home decorating. She sewed and tailored amazing clothing, detailed Barbie and other doll clothes, as well as cute stuffed toys, and draperies. All of this creativity helped to inspire Sabrina in her own creative pursuits; mother and daughter collaborated on many projects over the years.
In February 1965, Alice resigned from Autonetics to attend graduate school at the University of California, Riverside. She wished to further her studies in Statistics, a goal she had set while working at Autonetics. While Alice did not complete her Master's degree, it did not hold her back in her career. While at UCR that year, in recognition of Alice's success is mathematics, she was selected for the Pi Mu Epsilon Fraternity, California Zeta Chapter, another national Mathematics Honor Society.
In June, 1966, Alice and Glenn's second child, Julie, was born. Almost a year later, the growing family moved to a larger home on Quartz Place, on the other side of Riverside and closer to UC Riverside. Alice also began working at UCR, in the Administrative Information Systems unit within the Computing Center on June 10 that year. In her early roles, she was a systems analyst and programmer, using Assembler, FORTRAN, and PL/1 languages. Sabrina remembers sitting on the floor of Alice's office at night and on weekends playing with punched paper tapes and later punched cards while Alice worked, and going into the large air-conditioned computer room to see the huge IBM machines whirring away. Alice's hard work for Administrative Information Systems and the Computing Center earned her promotions to Assistant Director and finally Director and department head. Alice was a born leader, and she was not afraid of learning and trying new things, whether at work or at home.
Alice sewed beautiful clothing, and taught Sabrina how to sew at a very early age. She also sewed costumes for school theater, gowns for homecoming and once even helped make a set of elaborate hand puppets Sabrina needed for a high school French class. She also made Sabrina a tennis team uniform since the school ran out (and Sabrina was at the very bottom of the team ladder … but at least her uniform looked better than all the others did!).
Cooking was a much-loved activity for Alice and several of her recipes have become family favorites. She experimented with different recipes and new trends. According to the consensus of family members, the number one favorite recipe is Alice's yummy and heavenly yeast bread, always a tradition at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Decadent German chocolate cake with coconut pecan icing comes in at a close second. Then there is Curry Chicken! Curry was an unusual flavor for the children then, but they grew to love and enjoy it very much.
Alice also made beautiful and elaborately decorated birthday cakes and gave great children's parties, as well as elegant adult dinner parties. The birthday parties were fabulous and the girls and their guests always had a lot of fun. Their Halloween and theater costumes were always the most creative and most well made. Both Julie and Sabrina have very fond memories of their costumes for Halloween and events, and all the fun that went into making and wearing them.
The family made many trips to see relatives and to visit national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Bryce, and Zion. They went tent camping and hiking often, traveling to many places in California, and to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. They even made a few trips to Canada and Mexico, too. One of Alice's favorite California locations for hiking and camping was Forest Falls; the small river, with boulders and smaller rocks, and the towering, whispering trees were lovely. Both Genevieve and Jim's families joined many of these camping trips, the adults had a great time being together, and the young cousins formed very close bonds that would last a lifetime.
Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm were also visited many times over the years, as well as Sea World and the Los Angeles and San Diego Zoos, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Alice also loved going to the beach. She would get up early in the morning and pack a huge picnic lunch and plenty of snacks and drinks, and they would head out for what seemed like a very long drive to get to the beach, but in reality, it was not very far to San Clemente Beach or Dana Point. Everyone would come home extremely tired and with their bathing suits and clothes full of sand. It was a great time.
Alice enjoyed working in the garden; she was a master at making things grow. She loved roses, camellias, iris, tulips, and daffodils, and always had them growing in her gardens. At the Quartz Place house, there was a small hill in the backyard, and Alice was always climbing that hill to pull weeds and put in new plantings. She wore her big hiking boots to prevent herself from slipping down the hill. The family always joked that if her boots did slip, the retaining wall would catch her! Thankfully, that never happened. One year, when the larger hill up behind the backyard hill was on fire, Alice was up on the second story roof watering down the wooden shingles. Luckily, the fire never reached the smaller hills or any of the neighborhood houses.
Alice helped with Sabrina's Camp Fire Girls group, helping plan and direct activities and fundraisers, and always went on the group camping trips and other excursions. She taught some girls how to sew by hand; they were not as fortunate to have already learned from their mothers. Alice was also on the board of the San Andreas Council of Camp Fire Girls for many years in the 1970's, and was board president in 1976-77.
Alice opened her home to others, and always made sure that no one ever went hungry. She graciously allowed one of Sabrina's friends who had a particularly difficult home life to spend a large amount of time with the family, whenever she needed it. Both Julie and Sabrina's friends spent considerable time with them at home, and always felt welcome. The girls had many sleepovers and play-dates, with lots of cookie baking and craft making days with friends.
In January of 1970, Alice and Glenn divorced. Since times were difficult financially, Alice began teaching computer programming and introductory data processing at RCC and UCR Extension in the evenings, after working all day. Alice continued to fill the role of both parents, while Sabrina and Julie coped with the change in family dynamics and grew up perhaps a little faster than they would have preferred. Julie was a junior high school student when Sabrina moved to Santa Barbara in April of 1980 to finish college and begin working full time.
In 1981, Alice and Julie moved to Santa Cruz. Alice began working as Director of Administrative Systems at UC Santa Cruz, in the same role she held at Riverside. When Alice and Julie first lived in Santa Cruz, they had a huge house on Cottini Way, in Bonny Doon, up off the Empire Grade and away from the city of Santa Cruz. It was a scenic area with many hills, redwood trees and various wild grasses, and a variety of wildlife. It was also remote and isolated. While beautiful, Alice was not happy with the home or location, and she and Julie moved into a townhouse on Quarry Lane in September of 1983. This house was very close to campus, and still provided a private and scenic location, including a stream in the backyard that many birds and other wildlife visited regularly. Seeing the wildlife was always entertaining and relaxing. Alice spent many hours decorating and furnishing her Quarry Lane home, and planting an abundance of plants and spring bulbs in the gardens. It was beautiful.
While working at UCSC, Alice became an active participant in the Soroptimist International organization of Santa Cruz. A main goal of this organization is to empower and educate women and girls, through volunteer and other work. Alice was elected and installed as 1990-91 president of the Santa Cruz chapter on June 27, 1990. The theme for her installation ceremony was "Alice in Wonderland," and she wore a gold crown and carried a gold scepter. Her board members donned very creative "Alice" character costumes in support. For another installation ceremony, Alice made and wore a University of California mascot costume - a detailed papier-mâché bear head complete with a large nose, an open smiling mouth with a curling pink tongue, and long, fluttery eyelashes, with a commencement gown, hood, and beret. It was adorable and great fun to see.
Alice and Julie loved to go for strawberries and whipped cream at Banana Joe's on the UCSC campus. Another favorite place Alice enjoyed was Antonelli's Begonia Gardens, the beauty, quality and volume of plants was astounding, something she never grew tired of seeing.
Alice sewed many of Julie's high school musical and theater costumes and always attended each and every performance. Alice was always very proud and supportive of Julie's musical interests, especially voice, since Julie was born with an incredible ability to sing. One musical, Anything Goes, Julie played the lead character Reno Sweeney. Julie borrowed a gorgeous 1920's silk crepe flapper dress for the play from her best friend; the dress belonged to her friend's grandmother. Alice made a coordinating cape for the dress with real ostrich feathers. The dress and cape were very elegant and glamorous, and lent a real authenticity to Julie's role. Following Julie's vocals, dancing and acting, the dress was almost the star of the show! On opening night, Julie did a spin during the finale, and the silk crepe fabric shattered from age … and the dress sadly fell apart. That evening, Alice took a devastated Julie to the fabric store and bought new silk and all the necessary fringe, trimmings and notions. Later that very night, Alice began her sewing magic, and with just 15 minutes before the second show began the next evening, an exact detailed copy of the antique dress was ready for Julie to wear on stage. Julie's cast mates and friends were stunned and amazed at how quickly Alice recreated the dress. Once again, the dress helped Julie be a star. The dress continued through the rest of the Anything Goes performances, and later, Alice even wore it to a Soroptimist event.
Another less glamorous costume also comes to mind: the Cow, for one of Julie's high school plays. Again, this costume was very detailed, and required quite a bit of ingenuity to design and construct. A funny thing is that Alice used paint named "Titty Pink" for the papier-mâché udder!
Alice began making jointed teddy bears in the early 1980's. She made them for family and friends, and for fundraisers. She taught Sabrina how to make bears and provided many tips and pointers along the way. Alice also began to learn how to make stained glass projects and made several beautiful window hangings. Alice even made a grandfather clock and a chest of drawers from kits, and taught herself how to re-cane chairs.
Alice also visited Alaska and spent time with lifelong friends Trudy and Gary at their home in Anchorage; she experienced the Northern Lights, went river fishing, and saw many beautiful sights.
Alice became a grandmother for the first time when Megan was born in 1987. She was not certain she was ready for this new phase in life and did not want to be labeled a "grandmother," because she just did not feel "old enough." She experimented with several different and non-traditional names for the baby to call her. After about one minute of holding her new grandchild, Alice fell in love with being a grandmother. Age no longer mattered. Alice eventually settled on being called "Grandmommy" by Megan. In 1992 and 1994, her second and third granddaughters were born, sisters Zoë and Sadie; by then Alice was perfectly ready to be called "Grandma."
Alice retired from the University of California, after 25 years of service in October 1992. After a short break, Alice worked as treasurer for Jess Brown's U.S. congressional representative campaign for a couple of years before she began traveling. She visited Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand with her Soroptimist group. She thoroughly enjoyed visiting other countries and seeing different people and cultures. Alice also loved going to Ruidoso, New Mexico, with her siblings and their spouses.
Alice met her second husband, Bob, in 1993, through Amway/Network 21 and their mutual friends. As Alice and Bob began to work together more closely, first just a couple of times each week in 1995, they began to develop a friendship that soon turned into romance. They began to see each other more often, looking forward to their time together, and soon fell in love. In March of 1997, they traveled to the Philippines and China with Network 21, and then lived in the Philippines for several years to build their business. They came back to California in 1999 and sold the Quarry Lane house in Santa Cruz that summer. Alice and Bob were married on August 3, 1999, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They went back to the Philippines, returning to California in December of 2000. They began looking for a new home, first in the Lake Tahoe area, then Carson City and Minden, Nevada. They decided upon Minden and rented a home on Mahogany Circle for a year before buying their home on Longleaf Place on August 8, 2001. Alice again decorated to her heart's content, making beautiful draperies and window treatments, planting many beautiful garden beds with her beloved iris, tulips and daffodils. Alice and Bob created several walkways with paving stones together. He would cut, and she would place the stones. They also built pergolas and raised garden beds in the backyard. Alice was exceedingly happy in her home with Bob; they were very much in love and made a perfect couple.
In addition to home and landscape improvements, Alice continued making teddy bears and began to create quilts with Bob's help and great sense of color. They had a grand time in the fabric stores, selecting beautiful combinations for a variety of quilts. Alice and Bob made several quilts for friends and family. Each granddaughter received a beautiful quilt made especially for her college graduation. Soon Sabrina's interest in quilting was revived, and Alice and Bob were happy to provide advice to her as she began her own quilting journey in earnest in 2016.
Alice and Bob had a wonderful vacation to Maui, Hawaii. They also made a few visits to Happy Camp, California, where Alice attended her first year of high school. They went on trips to the Grand Canyon, Roswell, and Carlsbad Caverns, and to Sedona and several other places with Alice's siblings and their spouses. They attended the Self Family reunion with Alice's brother and sister-in-law and enjoyed seeing cousins and other long lost relatives, too. The last vacation trip they made together was to San Antonio, Texas.
Alice also loved to visit her adult daughters and their families. She especially enjoyed spending time with her granddaughters, Megan, Zoë, and Sadie, helping when they were babies and very little girls. Later, as the girls began to grow, she loved taking them to the local parks and beaches, having fun on the playground equipment with them, going to their school plays and events, enjoying their piano recitals, and cheering them on at their basketball and softball games. Alice enjoyed shopping with the girls, making craft projects, and baking cookies. Over the years, Alice loved seeing how the girls were growing up and becoming accomplished young women. She was so very proud of each one of them.
Whenever visiting Julie and her family at their ranch, Idyllwilde, Alice thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the pool with everyone. Each time in the pool, Alice had so much fun that she started laughing and soon everyone was giggling along with her! Alice rode horse back twice, on Roux, and laughed and giggled the entire time, too. She loved holding the chickens and seeing all of the animals, as well. She experienced true bliss while visiting Idyllwilde.
In 2015, Alice celebrated her 80th birthday with her family. Each person wrote several memories for Alice, these little stories and many photos from the past and present were placed into a specially crafted box for her. Everyone enjoyed the food, flowers, gifts, and cake, and most of all, being together. It was a very memorable event for everyone.
During the last few years, Alice and Bob did not travel as much, but loved having family and friends visit them. One of Alice's happiest and most joyous times in recent months was having the opportunity to meet and spend time with her great grandson, Ellwood. Alice always loved babies, and for her to be able to see and hold him, and to talk with and cuddle him, was extraordinarily special and extremely wonderful to witness.
Alice died peacefully at 7:30pm on December 22, 2018, at the age of 83, at the Carson Tahoe Medical Center in Carson City, Nevada. Alice's parents, John and Leda; her brother, Jim; her brother-in-law, John Brewer Sr; and two nephews, John Brewer Jr and Kevin Self, preceded her in death. Alice leaves her family:
Husband, Bob
Daughter, Sabrina and her husband, David
Daughter, Julian and her husband, Sean
Granddaughter, Megan her husband, Stephen
Granddaughter, Zoë
Granddaughter, Sadie
Great grandson, Ellwood
Sister, Merle Genevieve Self Brewer
Sister-in-law, Delores
Niece, Karla and her family
Several cousins and many good friends also survive her.
Alice was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, and aunt. She was a true friend, cared for many, and always did her very best at everything. Alice instilled a love and appreciation for family, nature, art, and music in her children, and taught them compassion, empathy and kindness, and how to work hard and persevere through difficult times. Alice will be missed tremendously, but she will always be remembered with deep love and appreciation.
Alice Ann Self Hunt
February 21, 1935 - December 22, 2018
Alice's story written with love by Sabrina, her eldest daughter, January - February 2019
Celebration of Life in Minden, Nevada, on March 23, 2019
Brilliance. This is a word often used to describe Alice. She was brilliant when it came to mathematics and sciences, her creativity was boundless, and her work ethic was incredibly strong. Alice persevered through many hardships and difficulties during her life and became all the more resilient.
She was strong, independent, and proud. She lived her life her own way.
Alice could play a mighty mean game of Chicken Foot or Mexican Train.
She did not care for chocolate … or so she said.
Red was Alice's favorite color. She also loved Margaritas and field fresh strawberries with cream.
Alice Ann Self was born on February 21, 1935, in Tahoka, Lynn County, Texas, to John C Self and Jimmie Leda Martin Self. Alice was the second child born to John and Leda, her older sister, Merle Genevieve was born on January 27, 1934, and younger brother, Jimmy Carl was born on January 15, 1940. All three children were born at home on the farm. Alice's middle name was in honor of Ann West, the physician who made the house call to deliver her at 7:05am.
As a child, Alice excelled in school. She adored dolls and all animals, but especially kittens. Alice loved reading, swinging high on the swing set or tree tire, using the jump rope and playing jacks. She learned to hand sew when she was five years old and started dressing her own dolls. She later advanced to using her mother's Singer treadle sewing machine and became an accomplished seamstress of her own clothing by her early teen years. Alice worked hard and always put forth her best effort in whatever she did. As a young girl of the 1930's and 40's, Alice learned all the proper domestic chores, sewing, cooking, cleaning, knitting, and did exceptionally well at them. However, she was also a "tom boy" and loved to play rough and tough, and she loved science and math. It seems Alice was ahead of her time.
John and Leda moved their young family many times; John was a carpenter turned salesman who was constantly searching for work. The Great Depression and the Dustbowl of the 1930's, and World War II were hard on the family. In February 1940, when Jim was just a few weeks old, the family moved from Tahoka to New Mexico. They spent two years in Portales, another year in Clovis, and then returned to Portales, staying until August 1946. At that time, they moved to Oregon. Alice completed her elementary school years in Blachly, and went on to junior high school in Springfield and later Ashland, one of her favorite places. In June of 1949, the family was living in Happy Camp, Siskiyou County, California, near the Klamath River. Alice attended Happy Camp High School (part of Mount Shasta High School) for her freshman year, where she excelled and was a member of the California Scholastic Federation, was an Honors Student, freshman class treasurer, and a member of the Girls League. After only one year, the family was back in Tahoka in June 1950, and Alice began her sophomore year at Tahoka High School in the fall. Shortly after school began, the family moved to Lubbock and into a house on Grinnell Street, not far from Tahoka, and Alice transferred to Thomas S. Lubbock High School. She graduated high school in May 1953. During high school, Alice worked as a sales woman at the iconic F.W. Woolworth Company department store in Lubbock.
After high school graduation, Alice enrolled in a Western Union Trade School and spent the summer in Oklahoma City, before enrolling for the fall 1953 term at Texas Technological College (later became Texas Technological University). During her sophomore and junior years at Tech, Alice worked as an automatic telex operator for Western Union, using her skills learned at the Oklahoma trade school. She used a telephone network system with printing typewriters to help deliver messages over phone lines. This seems to be early text messaging, again ahead of her time! Alice also worked for a year as a secretary, beginning in September 1956, at Holland Hearing Center in Lubbock.
While at Tech, in December 1956, Alice earned membership in Kappa Mu Epsilon, a national Honor Society in Mathematics. Alice also met and fell in love with another Tech student, Glenn Edwin Hunt. Glenn was equally enamored with science and mathematics, and together they made quite the pair. Alice and Glenn were married during her junior year at Tech, on April 19, 1957, in Dallas, Texas; Alice's Uncle Gerald McCollom performed the ceremony. Alice wore a suit of blue silk shantung, she added rhinestone jewelry and a white hat, and she carried white roses. Her sister, Genevieve, was matron of honor, and wore a blue silk shantung dress and carried pink roses.
After Glenn's graduation from Tech in August 1957, the couple moved to Ames, Iowa, so that he could pursue his PhD in Chemistry at Iowa State University. Alice and Glenn lived in a small trailer in married student housing on campus, and she typed thesis papers for graduate students to earn money while waiting for their first child to be born. The Iowa winter was particularly frigid that year, and Alice's parakeet froze to death in their trailer. Alice said that the only reason she survived was that she was pregnant!
Because of the impending arrival of their baby, Alice and Glenn needed to change their future plans. He gave up working on his advanced degree and the prospects of working for a large chemical company, and applied for teaching positions. In late May, 1958, the day that Alice went into labor, Glenn was traveling back to Ames from Riverside, California, by train, where he had just signed on as a Chemistry professor at Riverside City College. While aboard the train, Glenn received a telegram announcing that Sabrina had been born. In August of that year, the family traveled to California after a short visit with family and friends in Texas. Alice was never so happy to leave Iowa, especially for sunny and warm Southern California.
After living in trailers and mobile homes, the family traded up in March 1959 for a cute, tiny green house with an A-frame front doorway on Cinnabar Drive in Riverside, not far from the Rubidoux Drive-In Theater. They lived on Cinnabar Drive until September 1961, when the state of California began making plans to change US-60 by routing the freeway right behind their home, so they moved across town into a house on Buckingham Place, which was nicer and farther away from the freeway. This neighborhood was newer, and came without much landscaping in the backyard. One of the first projects Alice and Glenn did was build a patio, since the backyard was just dirt. The design of the cement flooring was completely unique; they set smooth black river stones into large chemical symbol patterns. Only they knew what the symbols all meant, but Sabrina grew up thinking that most people had a patio just like it. Sabrina also grew up thinking that most parents played games with wooden molecule models. Even though she did not understand them at the time, they were fun to take apart and put back together! Over the years, Alice and Glenn also made Sabrina a wood A-frame playhouse with blue Dutch doors adorned with hearts and roses; it was so much fun to use with friends and pets. The A-frame shape may have been inspired by their first house on Cinnabar Drive. Alice and Sabrina loved to swing on the swing set next to the playhouse.
As Sabrina grew older, Alice returned to school to finish her degree at the University of Redlands. She graduated in August 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, with a minor in Chemistry. Following graduation, Alice began working at Autonetics, in Anaheim, in September 1962. She was a research engineer and computer programmer using Assembler and FORTRAN languages, and mainly worked on software that guided the Minuteman missiles. Alice's work required access to classified material under contract with the US Armed Forces; a Department of Defense security clearance was necessary.
With Alice's technical work, she needed a creative outlet. While living at the Buckingham house, Alice and Sabrina began taking ceramics classes and learned how to throw pottery on both electric and kick wheels and how to build slab projects; Alice made an abundance of creations. One of Alice's favorite places to visit was the Pottery Shack in Laguna Beach. She found much inspiration there and came home to try creating her own version of what she saw. Many family members continue to cherish her ceramic pieces. Alice and Glenn made many sets of resin grapes, and gave them as gifts, too. Some grapes were set onto corkboard wall displays and others were made to sit upon a table or shelf. Alice excelled in large crewel embroidery pieces and home decorating. She sewed and tailored amazing clothing, detailed Barbie and other doll clothes, as well as cute stuffed toys, and draperies. All of this creativity helped to inspire Sabrina in her own creative pursuits; mother and daughter collaborated on many projects over the years.
In February 1965, Alice resigned from Autonetics to attend graduate school at the University of California, Riverside. She wished to further her studies in Statistics, a goal she had set while working at Autonetics. While Alice did not complete her Master's degree, it did not hold her back in her career. While at UCR that year, in recognition of Alice's success is mathematics, she was selected for the Pi Mu Epsilon Fraternity, California Zeta Chapter, another national Mathematics Honor Society.
In June, 1966, Alice and Glenn's second child, Julie, was born. Almost a year later, the growing family moved to a larger home on Quartz Place, on the other side of Riverside and closer to UC Riverside. Alice also began working at UCR, in the Administrative Information Systems unit within the Computing Center on June 10 that year. In her early roles, she was a systems analyst and programmer, using Assembler, FORTRAN, and PL/1 languages. Sabrina remembers sitting on the floor of Alice's office at night and on weekends playing with punched paper tapes and later punched cards while Alice worked, and going into the large air-conditioned computer room to see the huge IBM machines whirring away. Alice's hard work for Administrative Information Systems and the Computing Center earned her promotions to Assistant Director and finally Director and department head. Alice was a born leader, and she was not afraid of learning and trying new things, whether at work or at home.
Alice sewed beautiful clothing, and taught Sabrina how to sew at a very early age. She also sewed costumes for school theater, gowns for homecoming and once even helped make a set of elaborate hand puppets Sabrina needed for a high school French class. She also made Sabrina a tennis team uniform since the school ran out (and Sabrina was at the very bottom of the team ladder … but at least her uniform looked better than all the others did!).
Cooking was a much-loved activity for Alice and several of her recipes have become family favorites. She experimented with different recipes and new trends. According to the consensus of family members, the number one favorite recipe is Alice's yummy and heavenly yeast bread, always a tradition at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Decadent German chocolate cake with coconut pecan icing comes in at a close second. Then there is Curry Chicken! Curry was an unusual flavor for the children then, but they grew to love and enjoy it very much.
Alice also made beautiful and elaborately decorated birthday cakes and gave great children's parties, as well as elegant adult dinner parties. The birthday parties were fabulous and the girls and their guests always had a lot of fun. Their Halloween and theater costumes were always the most creative and most well made. Both Julie and Sabrina have very fond memories of their costumes for Halloween and events, and all the fun that went into making and wearing them.
The family made many trips to see relatives and to visit national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Bryce, and Zion. They went tent camping and hiking often, traveling to many places in California, and to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. They even made a few trips to Canada and Mexico, too. One of Alice's favorite California locations for hiking and camping was Forest Falls; the small river, with boulders and smaller rocks, and the towering, whispering trees were lovely. Both Genevieve and Jim's families joined many of these camping trips, the adults had a great time being together, and the young cousins formed very close bonds that would last a lifetime.
Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm were also visited many times over the years, as well as Sea World and the Los Angeles and San Diego Zoos, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Alice also loved going to the beach. She would get up early in the morning and pack a huge picnic lunch and plenty of snacks and drinks, and they would head out for what seemed like a very long drive to get to the beach, but in reality, it was not very far to San Clemente Beach or Dana Point. Everyone would come home extremely tired and with their bathing suits and clothes full of sand. It was a great time.
Alice enjoyed working in the garden; she was a master at making things grow. She loved roses, camellias, iris, tulips, and daffodils, and always had them growing in her gardens. At the Quartz Place house, there was a small hill in the backyard, and Alice was always climbing that hill to pull weeds and put in new plantings. She wore her big hiking boots to prevent herself from slipping down the hill. The family always joked that if her boots did slip, the retaining wall would catch her! Thankfully, that never happened. One year, when the larger hill up behind the backyard hill was on fire, Alice was up on the second story roof watering down the wooden shingles. Luckily, the fire never reached the smaller hills or any of the neighborhood houses.
Alice helped with Sabrina's Camp Fire Girls group, helping plan and direct activities and fundraisers, and always went on the group camping trips and other excursions. She taught some girls how to sew by hand; they were not as fortunate to have already learned from their mothers. Alice was also on the board of the San Andreas Council of Camp Fire Girls for many years in the 1970's, and was board president in 1976-77.
Alice opened her home to others, and always made sure that no one ever went hungry. She graciously allowed one of Sabrina's friends who had a particularly difficult home life to spend a large amount of time with the family, whenever she needed it. Both Julie and Sabrina's friends spent considerable time with them at home, and always felt welcome. The girls had many sleepovers and play-dates, with lots of cookie baking and craft making days with friends.
In January of 1970, Alice and Glenn divorced. Since times were difficult financially, Alice began teaching computer programming and introductory data processing at RCC and UCR Extension in the evenings, after working all day. Alice continued to fill the role of both parents, while Sabrina and Julie coped with the change in family dynamics and grew up perhaps a little faster than they would have preferred. Julie was a junior high school student when Sabrina moved to Santa Barbara in April of 1980 to finish college and begin working full time.
In 1981, Alice and Julie moved to Santa Cruz. Alice began working as Director of Administrative Systems at UC Santa Cruz, in the same role she held at Riverside. When Alice and Julie first lived in Santa Cruz, they had a huge house on Cottini Way, in Bonny Doon, up off the Empire Grade and away from the city of Santa Cruz. It was a scenic area with many hills, redwood trees and various wild grasses, and a variety of wildlife. It was also remote and isolated. While beautiful, Alice was not happy with the home or location, and she and Julie moved into a townhouse on Quarry Lane in September of 1983. This house was very close to campus, and still provided a private and scenic location, including a stream in the backyard that many birds and other wildlife visited regularly. Seeing the wildlife was always entertaining and relaxing. Alice spent many hours decorating and furnishing her Quarry Lane home, and planting an abundance of plants and spring bulbs in the gardens. It was beautiful.
While working at UCSC, Alice became an active participant in the Soroptimist International organization of Santa Cruz. A main goal of this organization is to empower and educate women and girls, through volunteer and other work. Alice was elected and installed as 1990-91 president of the Santa Cruz chapter on June 27, 1990. The theme for her installation ceremony was "Alice in Wonderland," and she wore a gold crown and carried a gold scepter. Her board members donned very creative "Alice" character costumes in support. For another installation ceremony, Alice made and wore a University of California mascot costume - a detailed papier-mâché bear head complete with a large nose, an open smiling mouth with a curling pink tongue, and long, fluttery eyelashes, with a commencement gown, hood, and beret. It was adorable and great fun to see.
Alice and Julie loved to go for strawberries and whipped cream at Banana Joe's on the UCSC campus. Another favorite place Alice enjoyed was Antonelli's Begonia Gardens, the beauty, quality and volume of plants was astounding, something she never grew tired of seeing.
Alice sewed many of Julie's high school musical and theater costumes and always attended each and every performance. Alice was always very proud and supportive of Julie's musical interests, especially voice, since Julie was born with an incredible ability to sing. One musical, Anything Goes, Julie played the lead character Reno Sweeney. Julie borrowed a gorgeous 1920's silk crepe flapper dress for the play from her best friend; the dress belonged to her friend's grandmother. Alice made a coordinating cape for the dress with real ostrich feathers. The dress and cape were very elegant and glamorous, and lent a real authenticity to Julie's role. Following Julie's vocals, dancing and acting, the dress was almost the star of the show! On opening night, Julie did a spin during the finale, and the silk crepe fabric shattered from age … and the dress sadly fell apart. That evening, Alice took a devastated Julie to the fabric store and bought new silk and all the necessary fringe, trimmings and notions. Later that very night, Alice began her sewing magic, and with just 15 minutes before the second show began the next evening, an exact detailed copy of the antique dress was ready for Julie to wear on stage. Julie's cast mates and friends were stunned and amazed at how quickly Alice recreated the dress. Once again, the dress helped Julie be a star. The dress continued through the rest of the Anything Goes performances, and later, Alice even wore it to a Soroptimist event.
Another less glamorous costume also comes to mind: the Cow, for one of Julie's high school plays. Again, this costume was very detailed, and required quite a bit of ingenuity to design and construct. A funny thing is that Alice used paint named "Titty Pink" for the papier-mâché udder!
Alice began making jointed teddy bears in the early 1980's. She made them for family and friends, and for fundraisers. She taught Sabrina how to make bears and provided many tips and pointers along the way. Alice also began to learn how to make stained glass projects and made several beautiful window hangings. Alice even made a grandfather clock and a chest of drawers from kits, and taught herself how to re-cane chairs.
Alice also visited Alaska and spent time with lifelong friends Trudy and Gary at their home in Anchorage; she experienced the Northern Lights, went river fishing, and saw many beautiful sights.
Alice became a grandmother for the first time when Megan was born in 1987. She was not certain she was ready for this new phase in life and did not want to be labeled a "grandmother," because she just did not feel "old enough." She experimented with several different and non-traditional names for the baby to call her. After about one minute of holding her new grandchild, Alice fell in love with being a grandmother. Age no longer mattered. Alice eventually settled on being called "Grandmommy" by Megan. In 1992 and 1994, her second and third granddaughters were born, sisters Zoë and Sadie; by then Alice was perfectly ready to be called "Grandma."
Alice retired from the University of California, after 25 years of service in October 1992. After a short break, Alice worked as treasurer for Jess Brown's U.S. congressional representative campaign for a couple of years before she began traveling. She visited Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand with her Soroptimist group. She thoroughly enjoyed visiting other countries and seeing different people and cultures. Alice also loved going to Ruidoso, New Mexico, with her siblings and their spouses.
Alice met her second husband, Bob, in 1993, through Amway/Network 21 and their mutual friends. As Alice and Bob began to work together more closely, first just a couple of times each week in 1995, they began to develop a friendship that soon turned into romance. They began to see each other more often, looking forward to their time together, and soon fell in love. In March of 1997, they traveled to the Philippines and China with Network 21, and then lived in the Philippines for several years to build their business. They came back to California in 1999 and sold the Quarry Lane house in Santa Cruz that summer. Alice and Bob were married on August 3, 1999, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They went back to the Philippines, returning to California in December of 2000. They began looking for a new home, first in the Lake Tahoe area, then Carson City and Minden, Nevada. They decided upon Minden and rented a home on Mahogany Circle for a year before buying their home on Longleaf Place on August 8, 2001. Alice again decorated to her heart's content, making beautiful draperies and window treatments, planting many beautiful garden beds with her beloved iris, tulips and daffodils. Alice and Bob created several walkways with paving stones together. He would cut, and she would place the stones. They also built pergolas and raised garden beds in the backyard. Alice was exceedingly happy in her home with Bob; they were very much in love and made a perfect couple.
In addition to home and landscape improvements, Alice continued making teddy bears and began to create quilts with Bob's help and great sense of color. They had a grand time in the fabric stores, selecting beautiful combinations for a variety of quilts. Alice and Bob made several quilts for friends and family. Each granddaughter received a beautiful quilt made especially for her college graduation. Soon Sabrina's interest in quilting was revived, and Alice and Bob were happy to provide advice to her as she began her own quilting journey in earnest in 2016.
Alice and Bob had a wonderful vacation to Maui, Hawaii. They also made a few visits to Happy Camp, California, where Alice attended her first year of high school. They went on trips to the Grand Canyon, Roswell, and Carlsbad Caverns, and to Sedona and several other places with Alice's siblings and their spouses. They attended the Self Family reunion with Alice's brother and sister-in-law and enjoyed seeing cousins and other long lost relatives, too. The last vacation trip they made together was to San Antonio, Texas.
Alice also loved to visit her adult daughters and their families. She especially enjoyed spending time with her granddaughters, Megan, Zoë, and Sadie, helping when they were babies and very little girls. Later, as the girls began to grow, she loved taking them to the local parks and beaches, having fun on the playground equipment with them, going to their school plays and events, enjoying their piano recitals, and cheering them on at their basketball and softball games. Alice enjoyed shopping with the girls, making craft projects, and baking cookies. Over the years, Alice loved seeing how the girls were growing up and becoming accomplished young women. She was so very proud of each one of them.
Whenever visiting Julie and her family at their ranch, Idyllwilde, Alice thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the pool with everyone. Each time in the pool, Alice had so much fun that she started laughing and soon everyone was giggling along with her! Alice rode horse back twice, on Roux, and laughed and giggled the entire time, too. She loved holding the chickens and seeing all of the animals, as well. She experienced true bliss while visiting Idyllwilde.
In 2015, Alice celebrated her 80th birthday with her family. Each person wrote several memories for Alice, these little stories and many photos from the past and present were placed into a specially crafted box for her. Everyone enjoyed the food, flowers, gifts, and cake, and most of all, being together. It was a very memorable event for everyone.
During the last few years, Alice and Bob did not travel as much, but loved having family and friends visit them. One of Alice's happiest and most joyous times in recent months was having the opportunity to meet and spend time with her great grandson, Ellwood. Alice always loved babies, and for her to be able to see and hold him, and to talk with and cuddle him, was extraordinarily special and extremely wonderful to witness.
Alice died peacefully at 7:30pm on December 22, 2018, at the age of 83, at the Carson Tahoe Medical Center in Carson City, Nevada. Alice's parents, John and Leda; her brother, Jim; her brother-in-law, John Brewer Sr; and two nephews, John Brewer Jr and Kevin Self, preceded her in death. Alice leaves her family:
Husband, Bob
Daughter, Sabrina and her husband, David
Daughter, Julian and her husband, Sean
Granddaughter, Megan her husband, Stephen
Granddaughter, Zoë
Granddaughter, Sadie
Great grandson, Ellwood
Sister, Merle Genevieve Self Brewer
Sister-in-law, Delores
Niece, Karla and her family
Several cousins and many good friends also survive her.
Alice was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, and aunt. She was a true friend, cared for many, and always did her very best at everything. Alice instilled a love and appreciation for family, nature, art, and music in her children, and taught them compassion, empathy and kindness, and how to work hard and persevere through difficult times. Alice will be missed tremendously, but she will always be remembered with deep love and appreciation.
Remembering Alice
Alice Ann Self Hunt
February 21, 1935 - December 22, 2018
Alice's story written with love by Sabrina, her eldest daughter, January - February 2019
Celebration of Life in Minden, Nevada, on March 23, 2019
Brilliance. This is a word often used to describe Alice. She was brilliant when it came to mathematics and sciences, her creativity was boundless, and her work ethic was incredibly strong. Alice persevered through many hardships and difficulties during her life and became all the more resilient.
She was strong, independent, and proud. She lived her life her own way.
Alice could play a mighty mean game of Chicken Foot or Mexican Train.
She did not care for chocolate … or so she said.
Red was Alice's favorite color. She also loved Margaritas and field fresh strawberries with cream.
Alice Ann Self was born on February 21, 1935, in Tahoka, Lynn County, Texas, to John C Self and Jimmie Leda Martin Self. Alice was the second child born to John and Leda, her older sister, Merle Genevieve was born on January 27, 1934, and younger brother, Jimmy Carl was born on January 15, 1940. All three children were born at home on the farm. Alice's middle name was in honor of Ann West, the physician who made the house call to deliver her at 7:05am.
As a child, Alice excelled in school. She adored dolls and all animals, but especially kittens. Alice loved reading, swinging high on the swing set or tree tire, using the jump rope and playing jacks. She learned to hand sew when she was five years old and started dressing her own dolls. She later advanced to using her mother's Singer treadle sewing machine and became an accomplished seamstress of her own clothing by her early teen years. Alice worked hard and always put forth her best effort in whatever she did. As a young girl of the 1930's and 40's, Alice learned all the proper domestic chores, sewing, cooking, cleaning, knitting, and did exceptionally well at them. However, she was also a "tom boy" and loved to play rough and tough, and she loved science and math. It seems Alice was ahead of her time.
John and Leda moved their young family many times; John was a carpenter turned salesman who was constantly searching for work. The Great Depression and the Dustbowl of the 1930's, and World War II were hard on the family. In February 1940, when Jim was just a few weeks old, the family moved from Tahoka to New Mexico. They spent two years in Portales, another year in Clovis, and then returned to Portales, staying until August 1946. At that time, they moved to Oregon. Alice completed her elementary school years in Blachly, and went on to junior high school in Springfield and later Ashland, one of her favorite places. In June of 1949, the family was living in Happy Camp, Siskiyou County, California, near the Klamath River. Alice attended Happy Camp High School (part of Mount Shasta High School) for her freshman year, where she excelled and was a member of the California Scholastic Federation, was an Honors Student, freshman class treasurer, and a member of the Girls League. After only one year, the family was back in Tahoka in June 1950, and Alice began her sophomore year at Tahoka High School in the fall. Shortly after school began, the family moved to Lubbock and into a house on Grinnell Street, not far from Tahoka, and Alice transferred to Thomas S. Lubbock High School. She graduated high school in May 1953. During high school, Alice worked as a sales woman at the iconic F.W. Woolworth Company department store in Lubbock.
After high school graduation, Alice enrolled in a Western Union Trade School and spent the summer in Oklahoma City, before enrolling for the fall 1953 term at Texas Technological College (later became Texas Technological University). During her sophomore and junior years at Tech, Alice worked as an automatic telex operator for Western Union, using her skills learned at the Oklahoma trade school. She used a telephone network system with printing typewriters to help deliver messages over phone lines. This seems to be early text messaging, again ahead of her time! Alice also worked for a year as a secretary, beginning in September 1956, at Holland Hearing Center in Lubbock.
While at Tech, in December 1956, Alice earned membership in Kappa Mu Epsilon, a national Honor Society in Mathematics. Alice also met and fell in love with another Tech student, Glenn Edwin Hunt. Glenn was equally enamored with science and mathematics, and together they made quite the pair. Alice and Glenn were married during her junior year at Tech, on April 19, 1957, in Dallas, Texas; Alice's Uncle Gerald McCollom performed the ceremony. Alice wore a suit of blue silk shantung, she added rhinestone jewelry and a white hat, and she carried white roses. Her sister, Genevieve, was matron of honor, and wore a blue silk shantung dress and carried pink roses.
After Glenn's graduation from Tech in August 1957, the couple moved to Ames, Iowa, so that he could pursue his PhD in Chemistry at Iowa State University. Alice and Glenn lived in a small trailer in married student housing on campus, and she typed thesis papers for graduate students to earn money while waiting for their first child to be born. The Iowa winter was particularly frigid that year, and Alice's parakeet froze to death in their trailer. Alice said that the only reason she survived was that she was pregnant!
Because of the impending arrival of their baby, Alice and Glenn needed to change their future plans. He gave up working on his advanced degree and the prospects of working for a large chemical company, and applied for teaching positions. In late May, 1958, the day that Alice went into labor, Glenn was traveling back to Ames from Riverside, California, by train, where he had just signed on as a Chemistry professor at Riverside City College. While aboard the train, Glenn received a telegram announcing that Sabrina had been born. In August of that year, the family traveled to California after a short visit with family and friends in Texas. Alice was never so happy to leave Iowa, especially for sunny and warm Southern California.
After living in trailers and mobile homes, the family traded up in March 1959 for a cute, tiny green house with an A-frame front doorway on Cinnabar Drive in Riverside, not far from the Rubidoux Drive-In Theater. They lived on Cinnabar Drive until September 1961, when the state of California began making plans to change US-60 by routing the freeway right behind their home, so they moved across town into a house on Buckingham Place, which was nicer and farther away from the freeway. This neighborhood was newer, and came without much landscaping in the backyard. One of the first projects Alice and Glenn did was build a patio, since the backyard was just dirt. The design of the cement flooring was completely unique; they set smooth black river stones into large chemical symbol patterns. Only they knew what the symbols all meant, but Sabrina grew up thinking that most people had a patio just like it. Sabrina also grew up thinking that most parents played games with wooden molecule models. Even though she did not understand them at the time, they were fun to take apart and put back together! Over the years, Alice and Glenn also made Sabrina a wood A-frame playhouse with blue Dutch doors adorned with hearts and roses; it was so much fun to use with friends and pets. The A-frame shape may have been inspired by their first house on Cinnabar Drive. Alice and Sabrina loved to swing on the swing set next to the playhouse.
As Sabrina grew older, Alice returned to school to finish her degree at the University of Redlands. She graduated in August 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, with a minor in Chemistry. Following graduation, Alice began working at Autonetics, in Anaheim, in September 1962. She was a research engineer and computer programmer using Assembler and FORTRAN languages, and mainly worked on software that guided the Minuteman missiles. Alice's work required access to classified material under contract with the US Armed Forces; a Department of Defense security clearance was necessary.
With Alice's technical work, she needed a creative outlet. While living at the Buckingham house, Alice and Sabrina began taking ceramics classes and learned how to throw pottery on both electric and kick wheels and how to build slab projects; Alice made an abundance of creations. One of Alice's favorite places to visit was the Pottery Shack in Laguna Beach. She found much inspiration there and came home to try creating her own version of what she saw. Many family members continue to cherish her ceramic pieces. Alice and Glenn made many sets of resin grapes, and gave them as gifts, too. Some grapes were set onto corkboard wall displays and others were made to sit upon a table or shelf. Alice excelled in large crewel embroidery pieces and home decorating. She sewed and tailored amazing clothing, detailed Barbie and other doll clothes, as well as cute stuffed toys, and draperies. All of this creativity helped to inspire Sabrina in her own creative pursuits; mother and daughter collaborated on many projects over the years.
In February 1965, Alice resigned from Autonetics to attend graduate school at the University of California, Riverside. She wished to further her studies in Statistics, a goal she had set while working at Autonetics. While Alice did not complete her Master's degree, it did not hold her back in her career. While at UCR that year, in recognition of Alice's success is mathematics, she was selected for the Pi Mu Epsilon Fraternity, California Zeta Chapter, another national Mathematics Honor Society.
In June, 1966, Alice and Glenn's second child, Julie, was born. Almost a year later, the growing family moved to a larger home on Quartz Place, on the other side of Riverside and closer to UC Riverside. Alice also began working at UCR, in the Administrative Information Systems unit within the Computing Center on June 10 that year. In her early roles, she was a systems analyst and programmer, using Assembler, FORTRAN, and PL/1 languages. Sabrina remembers sitting on the floor of Alice's office at night and on weekends playing with punched paper tapes and later punched cards while Alice worked, and going into the large air-conditioned computer room to see the huge IBM machines whirring away. Alice's hard work for Administrative Information Systems and the Computing Center earned her promotions to Assistant Director and finally Director and department head. Alice was a born leader, and she was not afraid of learning and trying new things, whether at work or at home.
Alice sewed beautiful clothing, and taught Sabrina how to sew at a very early age. She also sewed costumes for school theater, gowns for homecoming and once even helped make a set of elaborate hand puppets Sabrina needed for a high school French class. She also made Sabrina a tennis team uniform since the school ran out (and Sabrina was at the very bottom of the team ladder … but at least her uniform looked better than all the others did!).
Cooking was a much-loved activity for Alice and several of her recipes have become family favorites. She experimented with different recipes and new trends. According to the consensus of family members, the number one favorite recipe is Alice's yummy and heavenly yeast bread, always a tradition at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Decadent German chocolate cake with coconut pecan icing comes in at a close second. Then there is Curry Chicken! Curry was an unusual flavor for the children then, but they grew to love and enjoy it very much.
Alice also made beautiful and elaborately decorated birthday cakes and gave great children's parties, as well as elegant adult dinner parties. The birthday parties were fabulous and the girls and their guests always had a lot of fun. Their Halloween and theater costumes were always the most creative and most well made. Both Julie and Sabrina have very fond memories of their costumes for Halloween and events, and all the fun that went into making and wearing them.
The family made many trips to see relatives and to visit national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Bryce, and Zion. They went tent camping and hiking often, traveling to many places in California, and to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. They even made a few trips to Canada and Mexico, too. One of Alice's favorite California locations for hiking and camping was Forest Falls; the small river, with boulders and smaller rocks, and the towering, whispering trees were lovely. Both Genevieve and Jim's families joined many of these camping trips, the adults had a great time being together, and the young cousins formed very close bonds that would last a lifetime.
Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm were also visited many times over the years, as well as Sea World and the Los Angeles and San Diego Zoos, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Alice also loved going to the beach. She would get up early in the morning and pack a huge picnic lunch and plenty of snacks and drinks, and they would head out for what seemed like a very long drive to get to the beach, but in reality, it was not very far to San Clemente Beach or Dana Point. Everyone would come home extremely tired and with their bathing suits and clothes full of sand. It was a great time.
Alice enjoyed working in the garden; she was a master at making things grow. She loved roses, camellias, iris, tulips, and daffodils, and always had them growing in her gardens. At the Quartz Place house, there was a small hill in the backyard, and Alice was always climbing that hill to pull weeds and put in new plantings. She wore her big hiking boots to prevent herself from slipping down the hill. The family always joked that if her boots did slip, the retaining wall would catch her! Thankfully, that never happened. One year, when the larger hill up behind the backyard hill was on fire, Alice was up on the second story roof watering down the wooden shingles. Luckily, the fire never reached the smaller hills or any of the neighborhood houses.
Alice helped with Sabrina's Camp Fire Girls group, helping plan and direct activities and fundraisers, and always went on the group camping trips and other excursions. She taught some girls how to sew by hand; they were not as fortunate to have already learned from their mothers. Alice was also on the board of the San Andreas Council of Camp Fire Girls for many years in the 1970's, and was board president in 1976-77.
Alice opened her home to others, and always made sure that no one ever went hungry. She graciously allowed one of Sabrina's friends who had a particularly difficult home life to spend a large amount of time with the family, whenever she needed it. Both Julie and Sabrina's friends spent considerable time with them at home, and always felt welcome. The girls had many sleepovers and play-dates, with lots of cookie baking and craft making days with friends.
In January of 1970, Alice and Glenn divorced. Since times were difficult financially, Alice began teaching computer programming and introductory data processing at RCC and UCR Extension in the evenings, after working all day. Alice continued to fill the role of both parents, while Sabrina and Julie coped with the change in family dynamics and grew up perhaps a little faster than they would have preferred. Julie was a junior high school student when Sabrina moved to Santa Barbara in April of 1980 to finish college and begin working full time.
In 1981, Alice and Julie moved to Santa Cruz. Alice began working as Director of Administrative Systems at UC Santa Cruz, in the same role she held at Riverside. When Alice and Julie first lived in Santa Cruz, they had a huge house on Cottini Way, in Bonny Doon, up off the Empire Grade and away from the city of Santa Cruz. It was a scenic area with many hills, redwood trees and various wild grasses, and a variety of wildlife. It was also remote and isolated. While beautiful, Alice was not happy with the home or location, and she and Julie moved into a townhouse on Quarry Lane in September of 1983. This house was very close to campus, and still provided a private and scenic location, including a stream in the backyard that many birds and other wildlife visited regularly. Seeing the wildlife was always entertaining and relaxing. Alice spent many hours decorating and furnishing her Quarry Lane home, and planting an abundance of plants and spring bulbs in the gardens. It was beautiful.
While working at UCSC, Alice became an active participant in the Soroptimist International organization of Santa Cruz. A main goal of this organization is to empower and educate women and girls, through volunteer and other work. Alice was elected and installed as 1990-91 president of the Santa Cruz chapter on June 27, 1990. The theme for her installation ceremony was "Alice in Wonderland," and she wore a gold crown and carried a gold scepter. Her board members donned very creative "Alice" character costumes in support. For another installation ceremony, Alice made and wore a University of California mascot costume - a detailed papier-mâché bear head complete with a large nose, an open smiling mouth with a curling pink tongue, and long, fluttery eyelashes, with a commencement gown, hood, and beret. It was adorable and great fun to see.
Alice and Julie loved to go for strawberries and whipped cream at Banana Joe's on the UCSC campus. Another favorite place Alice enjoyed was Antonelli's Begonia Gardens, the beauty, quality and volume of plants was astounding, something she never grew tired of seeing.
Alice sewed many of Julie's high school musical and theater costumes and always attended each and every performance. Alice was always very proud and supportive of Julie's musical interests, especially voice, since Julie was born with an incredible ability to sing. One musical, Anything Goes, Julie played the lead character Reno Sweeney. Julie borrowed a gorgeous 1920's silk crepe flapper dress for the play from her best friend; the dress belonged to her friend's grandmother. Alice made a coordinating cape for the dress with real ostrich feathers. The dress and cape were very elegant and glamorous, and lent a real authenticity to Julie's role. Following Julie's vocals, dancing and acting, the dress was almost the star of the show! On opening night, Julie did a spin during the finale, and the silk crepe fabric shattered from age … and the dress sadly fell apart. That evening, Alice took a devastated Julie to the fabric store and bought new silk and all the necessary fringe, trimmings and notions. Later that very night, Alice began her sewing magic, and with just 15 minutes before the second show began the next evening, an exact detailed copy of the antique dress was ready for Julie to wear on stage. Julie's cast mates and friends were stunned and amazed at how quickly Alice recreated the dress. Once again, the dress helped Julie be a star. The dress continued through the rest of the Anything Goes performances, and later, Alice even wore it to a Soroptimist event.
Another less glamorous costume also comes to mind: the Cow, for one of Julie's high school plays. Again, this costume was very detailed, and required quite a bit of ingenuity to design and construct. A funny thing is that Alice used paint named "Titty Pink" for the papier-mâché udder!
Alice began making jointed teddy bears in the early 1980's. She made them for family and friends, and for fundraisers. She taught Sabrina how to make bears and provided many tips and pointers along the way. Alice also began to learn how to make stained glass projects and made several beautiful window hangings. Alice even made a grandfather clock and a chest of drawers from kits, and taught herself how to re-cane chairs.
Alice also visited Alaska and spent time with lifelong friends Trudy and Gary at their home in Anchorage; she experienced the Northern Lights, went river fishing, and saw many beautiful sights.
Alice became a grandmother for the first time when Megan was born in 1987. She was not certain she was ready for this new phase in life and did not want to be labeled a "grandmother," because she just did not feel "old enough." She experimented with several different and non-traditional names for the baby to call her. After about one minute of holding her new grandchild, Alice fell in love with being a grandmother. Age no longer mattered. Alice eventually settled on being called "Grandmommy" by Megan. In 1992 and 1994, her second and third granddaughters were born, sisters Zoë and Sadie; by then Alice was perfectly ready to be called "Grandma."
Alice retired from the University of California, after 25 years of service in October 1992. After a short break, Alice worked as treasurer for Jess Brown's U.S. congressional representative campaign for a couple of years before she began traveling. She visited Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand with her Soroptimist group. She thoroughly enjoyed visiting other countries and seeing different people and cultures. Alice also loved going to Ruidoso, New Mexico, with her siblings and their spouses.
Alice met her second husband, Bob, in 1993, through Amway/Network 21 and their mutual friends. As Alice and Bob began to work together more closely, first just a couple of times each week in 1995, they began to develop a friendship that soon turned into romance. They began to see each other more often, looking forward to their time together, and soon fell in love. In March of 1997, they traveled to the Philippines and China with Network 21, and then lived in the Philippines for several years to build their business. They came back to California in 1999 and sold the Quarry Lane house in Santa Cruz that summer. Alice and Bob were married on August 3, 1999, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They went back to the Philippines, returning to California in December of 2000. They began looking for a new home, first in the Lake Tahoe area, then Carson City and Minden, Nevada. They decided upon Minden and rented a home on Mahogany Circle for a year before buying their home on Longleaf Place on August 8, 2001. Alice again decorated to her heart's content, making beautiful draperies and window treatments, planting many beautiful garden beds with her beloved iris, tulips and daffodils. Alice and Bob created several walkways with paving stones together. He would cut, and she would place the stones. They also built pergolas and raised garden beds in the backyard. Alice was exceedingly happy in her home with Bob; they were very much in love and made a perfect couple.
In addition to home and landscape improvements, Alice continued making teddy bears and began to create quilts with Bob's help and great sense of color. They had a grand time in the fabric stores, selecting beautiful combinations for a variety of quilts. Alice and Bob made several quilts for friends and family. Each granddaughter received a beautiful quilt made especially for her college graduation. Soon Sabrina's interest in quilting was revived, and Alice and Bob were happy to provide advice to her as she began her own quilting journey in earnest in 2016.
Alice and Bob had a wonderful vacation to Maui, Hawaii. They also made a few visits to Happy Camp, California, where Alice attended her first year of high school. They went on trips to the Grand Canyon, Roswell, and Carlsbad Caverns, and to Sedona and several other places with Alice's siblings and their spouses. They attended the Self Family reunion with Alice's brother and sister-in-law and enjoyed seeing cousins and other long lost relatives, too. The last vacation trip they made together was to San Antonio, Texas.
Alice also loved to visit her adult daughters and their families. She especially enjoyed spending time with her granddaughters, Megan, Zoë, and Sadie, helping when they were babies and very little girls. Later, as the girls began to grow, she loved taking them to the local parks and beaches, having fun on the playground equipment with them, going to their school plays and events, enjoying their piano recitals, and cheering them on at their basketball and softball games. Alice enjoyed shopping with the girls, making craft projects, and baking cookies. Over the years, Alice loved seeing how the girls were growing up and becoming accomplished young women. She was so very proud of each one of them.
Whenever visiting Julie and her family at their ranch, Idyllwilde, Alice thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the pool with everyone. Each time in the pool, Alice had so much fun that she started laughing and soon everyone was giggling along with her! Alice rode horse back twice, on Roux, and laughed and giggled the entire time, too. She loved holding the chickens and seeing all of the animals, as well. She experienced true bliss while visiting Idyllwilde.
In 2015, Alice celebrated her 80th birthday with her family. Each person wrote several memories for Alice, these little stories and many photos from the past and present were placed into a specially crafted box for her. Everyone enjoyed the food, flowers, gifts, and cake, and most of all, being together. It was a very memorable event for everyone.
During the last few years, Alice and Bob did not travel as much, but loved having family and friends visit them. One of Alice's happiest and most joyous times in recent months was having the opportunity to meet and spend time with her great grandson, Ellwood. Alice always loved babies, and for her to be able to see and hold him, and to talk with and cuddle him, was extraordinarily special and extremely wonderful to witness.
Alice died peacefully at 7:30pm on December 22, 2018, at the age of 83, at the Carson Tahoe Medical Center in Carson City, Nevada. Alice's parents, John and Leda; her brother, Jim; her brother-in-law, John Brewer Sr; and two nephews, John Brewer Jr and Kevin Self, preceded her in death. Alice leaves her family:
Husband, Bob
Daughter, Sabrina and her husband, David
Daughter, Julian and her husband, Sean
Granddaughter, Megan her husband, Stephen
Granddaughter, Zoë
Granddaughter, Sadie
Great grandson, Ellwood
Sister, Merle Genevieve Self Brewer
Sister-in-law, Delores
Niece, Karla and her family
Several cousins and many good friends also survive her.
Alice was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, and aunt. She was a true friend, cared for many, and always did her very best at everything. Alice instilled a love and appreciation for family, nature, art, and music in her children, and taught them compassion, empathy and kindness, and how to work hard and persevere through difficult times. Alice will be missed tremendously, but she will always be remembered with deep love and appreciation.
Alice Ann Self Hunt
February 21, 1935 - December 22, 2018
Alice's story written with love by Sabrina, her eldest daughter, January - February 2019
Celebration of Life in Minden, Nevada, on March 23, 2019
Brilliance. This is a word often used to describe Alice. She was brilliant when it came to mathematics and sciences, her creativity was boundless, and her work ethic was incredibly strong. Alice persevered through many hardships and difficulties during her life and became all the more resilient.
She was strong, independent, and proud. She lived her life her own way.
Alice could play a mighty mean game of Chicken Foot or Mexican Train.
She did not care for chocolate … or so she said.
Red was Alice's favorite color. She also loved Margaritas and field fresh strawberries with cream.
Alice Ann Self was born on February 21, 1935, in Tahoka, Lynn County, Texas, to John C Self and Jimmie Leda Martin Self. Alice was the second child born to John and Leda, her older sister, Merle Genevieve was born on January 27, 1934, and younger brother, Jimmy Carl was born on January 15, 1940. All three children were born at home on the farm. Alice's middle name was in honor of Ann West, the physician who made the house call to deliver her at 7:05am.
As a child, Alice excelled in school. She adored dolls and all animals, but especially kittens. Alice loved reading, swinging high on the swing set or tree tire, using the jump rope and playing jacks. She learned to hand sew when she was five years old and started dressing her own dolls. She later advanced to using her mother's Singer treadle sewing machine and became an accomplished seamstress of her own clothing by her early teen years. Alice worked hard and always put forth her best effort in whatever she did. As a young girl of the 1930's and 40's, Alice learned all the proper domestic chores, sewing, cooking, cleaning, knitting, and did exceptionally well at them. However, she was also a "tom boy" and loved to play rough and tough, and she loved science and math. It seems Alice was ahead of her time.
John and Leda moved their young family many times; John was a carpenter turned salesman who was constantly searching for work. The Great Depression and the Dustbowl of the 1930's, and World War II were hard on the family. In February 1940, when Jim was just a few weeks old, the family moved from Tahoka to New Mexico. They spent two years in Portales, another year in Clovis, and then returned to Portales, staying until August 1946. At that time, they moved to Oregon. Alice completed her elementary school years in Blachly, and went on to junior high school in Springfield and later Ashland, one of her favorite places. In June of 1949, the family was living in Happy Camp, Siskiyou County, California, near the Klamath River. Alice attended Happy Camp High School (part of Mount Shasta High School) for her freshman year, where she excelled and was a member of the California Scholastic Federation, was an Honors Student, freshman class treasurer, and a member of the Girls League. After only one year, the family was back in Tahoka in June 1950, and Alice began her sophomore year at Tahoka High School in the fall. Shortly after school began, the family moved to Lubbock and into a house on Grinnell Street, not far from Tahoka, and Alice transferred to Thomas S. Lubbock High School. She graduated high school in May 1953. During high school, Alice worked as a sales woman at the iconic F.W. Woolworth Company department store in Lubbock.
After high school graduation, Alice enrolled in a Western Union Trade School and spent the summer in Oklahoma City, before enrolling for the fall 1953 term at Texas Technological College (later became Texas Technological University). During her sophomore and junior years at Tech, Alice worked as an automatic telex operator for Western Union, using her skills learned at the Oklahoma trade school. She used a telephone network system with printing typewriters to help deliver messages over phone lines. This seems to be early text messaging, again ahead of her time! Alice also worked for a year as a secretary, beginning in September 1956, at Holland Hearing Center in Lubbock.
While at Tech, in December 1956, Alice earned membership in Kappa Mu Epsilon, a national Honor Society in Mathematics. Alice also met and fell in love with another Tech student, Glenn Edwin Hunt. Glenn was equally enamored with science and mathematics, and together they made quite the pair. Alice and Glenn were married during her junior year at Tech, on April 19, 1957, in Dallas, Texas; Alice's Uncle Gerald McCollom performed the ceremony. Alice wore a suit of blue silk shantung, she added rhinestone jewelry and a white hat, and she carried white roses. Her sister, Genevieve, was matron of honor, and wore a blue silk shantung dress and carried pink roses.
After Glenn's graduation from Tech in August 1957, the couple moved to Ames, Iowa, so that he could pursue his PhD in Chemistry at Iowa State University. Alice and Glenn lived in a small trailer in married student housing on campus, and she typed thesis papers for graduate students to earn money while waiting for their first child to be born. The Iowa winter was particularly frigid that year, and Alice's parakeet froze to death in their trailer. Alice said that the only reason she survived was that she was pregnant!
Because of the impending arrival of their baby, Alice and Glenn needed to change their future plans. He gave up working on his advanced degree and the prospects of working for a large chemical company, and applied for teaching positions. In late May, 1958, the day that Alice went into labor, Glenn was traveling back to Ames from Riverside, California, by train, where he had just signed on as a Chemistry professor at Riverside City College. While aboard the train, Glenn received a telegram announcing that Sabrina had been born. In August of that year, the family traveled to California after a short visit with family and friends in Texas. Alice was never so happy to leave Iowa, especially for sunny and warm Southern California.
After living in trailers and mobile homes, the family traded up in March 1959 for a cute, tiny green house with an A-frame front doorway on Cinnabar Drive in Riverside, not far from the Rubidoux Drive-In Theater. They lived on Cinnabar Drive until September 1961, when the state of California began making plans to change US-60 by routing the freeway right behind their home, so they moved across town into a house on Buckingham Place, which was nicer and farther away from the freeway. This neighborhood was newer, and came without much landscaping in the backyard. One of the first projects Alice and Glenn did was build a patio, since the backyard was just dirt. The design of the cement flooring was completely unique; they set smooth black river stones into large chemical symbol patterns. Only they knew what the symbols all meant, but Sabrina grew up thinking that most people had a patio just like it. Sabrina also grew up thinking that most parents played games with wooden molecule models. Even though she did not understand them at the time, they were fun to take apart and put back together! Over the years, Alice and Glenn also made Sabrina a wood A-frame playhouse with blue Dutch doors adorned with hearts and roses; it was so much fun to use with friends and pets. The A-frame shape may have been inspired by their first house on Cinnabar Drive. Alice and Sabrina loved to swing on the swing set next to the playhouse.
As Sabrina grew older, Alice returned to school to finish her degree at the University of Redlands. She graduated in August 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, with a minor in Chemistry. Following graduation, Alice began working at Autonetics, in Anaheim, in September 1962. She was a research engineer and computer programmer using Assembler and FORTRAN languages, and mainly worked on software that guided the Minuteman missiles. Alice's work required access to classified material under contract with the US Armed Forces; a Department of Defense security clearance was necessary.
With Alice's technical work, she needed a creative outlet. While living at the Buckingham house, Alice and Sabrina began taking ceramics classes and learned how to throw pottery on both electric and kick wheels and how to build slab projects; Alice made an abundance of creations. One of Alice's favorite places to visit was the Pottery Shack in Laguna Beach. She found much inspiration there and came home to try creating her own version of what she saw. Many family members continue to cherish her ceramic pieces. Alice and Glenn made many sets of resin grapes, and gave them as gifts, too. Some grapes were set onto corkboard wall displays and others were made to sit upon a table or shelf. Alice excelled in large crewel embroidery pieces and home decorating. She sewed and tailored amazing clothing, detailed Barbie and other doll clothes, as well as cute stuffed toys, and draperies. All of this creativity helped to inspire Sabrina in her own creative pursuits; mother and daughter collaborated on many projects over the years.
In February 1965, Alice resigned from Autonetics to attend graduate school at the University of California, Riverside. She wished to further her studies in Statistics, a goal she had set while working at Autonetics. While Alice did not complete her Master's degree, it did not hold her back in her career. While at UCR that year, in recognition of Alice's success is mathematics, she was selected for the Pi Mu Epsilon Fraternity, California Zeta Chapter, another national Mathematics Honor Society.
In June, 1966, Alice and Glenn's second child, Julie, was born. Almost a year later, the growing family moved to a larger home on Quartz Place, on the other side of Riverside and closer to UC Riverside. Alice also began working at UCR, in the Administrative Information Systems unit within the Computing Center on June 10 that year. In her early roles, she was a systems analyst and programmer, using Assembler, FORTRAN, and PL/1 languages. Sabrina remembers sitting on the floor of Alice's office at night and on weekends playing with punched paper tapes and later punched cards while Alice worked, and going into the large air-conditioned computer room to see the huge IBM machines whirring away. Alice's hard work for Administrative Information Systems and the Computing Center earned her promotions to Assistant Director and finally Director and department head. Alice was a born leader, and she was not afraid of learning and trying new things, whether at work or at home.
Alice sewed beautiful clothing, and taught Sabrina how to sew at a very early age. She also sewed costumes for school theater, gowns for homecoming and once even helped make a set of elaborate hand puppets Sabrina needed for a high school French class. She also made Sabrina a tennis team uniform since the school ran out (and Sabrina was at the very bottom of the team ladder … but at least her uniform looked better than all the others did!).
Cooking was a much-loved activity for Alice and several of her recipes have become family favorites. She experimented with different recipes and new trends. According to the consensus of family members, the number one favorite recipe is Alice's yummy and heavenly yeast bread, always a tradition at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Decadent German chocolate cake with coconut pecan icing comes in at a close second. Then there is Curry Chicken! Curry was an unusual flavor for the children then, but they grew to love and enjoy it very much.
Alice also made beautiful and elaborately decorated birthday cakes and gave great children's parties, as well as elegant adult dinner parties. The birthday parties were fabulous and the girls and their guests always had a lot of fun. Their Halloween and theater costumes were always the most creative and most well made. Both Julie and Sabrina have very fond memories of their costumes for Halloween and events, and all the fun that went into making and wearing them.
The family made many trips to see relatives and to visit national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Bryce, and Zion. They went tent camping and hiking often, traveling to many places in California, and to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. They even made a few trips to Canada and Mexico, too. One of Alice's favorite California locations for hiking and camping was Forest Falls; the small river, with boulders and smaller rocks, and the towering, whispering trees were lovely. Both Genevieve and Jim's families joined many of these camping trips, the adults had a great time being together, and the young cousins formed very close bonds that would last a lifetime.
Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm were also visited many times over the years, as well as Sea World and the Los Angeles and San Diego Zoos, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Alice also loved going to the beach. She would get up early in the morning and pack a huge picnic lunch and plenty of snacks and drinks, and they would head out for what seemed like a very long drive to get to the beach, but in reality, it was not very far to San Clemente Beach or Dana Point. Everyone would come home extremely tired and with their bathing suits and clothes full of sand. It was a great time.
Alice enjoyed working in the garden; she was a master at making things grow. She loved roses, camellias, iris, tulips, and daffodils, and always had them growing in her gardens. At the Quartz Place house, there was a small hill in the backyard, and Alice was always climbing that hill to pull weeds and put in new plantings. She wore her big hiking boots to prevent herself from slipping down the hill. The family always joked that if her boots did slip, the retaining wall would catch her! Thankfully, that never happened. One year, when the larger hill up behind the backyard hill was on fire, Alice was up on the second story roof watering down the wooden shingles. Luckily, the fire never reached the smaller hills or any of the neighborhood houses.
Alice helped with Sabrina's Camp Fire Girls group, helping plan and direct activities and fundraisers, and always went on the group camping trips and other excursions. She taught some girls how to sew by hand; they were not as fortunate to have already learned from their mothers. Alice was also on the board of the San Andreas Council of Camp Fire Girls for many years in the 1970's, and was board president in 1976-77.
Alice opened her home to others, and always made sure that no one ever went hungry. She graciously allowed one of Sabrina's friends who had a particularly difficult home life to spend a large amount of time with the family, whenever she needed it. Both Julie and Sabrina's friends spent considerable time with them at home, and always felt welcome. The girls had many sleepovers and play-dates, with lots of cookie baking and craft making days with friends.
In January of 1970, Alice and Glenn divorced. Since times were difficult financially, Alice began teaching computer programming and introductory data processing at RCC and UCR Extension in the evenings, after working all day. Alice continued to fill the role of both parents, while Sabrina and Julie coped with the change in family dynamics and grew up perhaps a little faster than they would have preferred. Julie was a junior high school student when Sabrina moved to Santa Barbara in April of 1980 to finish college and begin working full time.
In 1981, Alice and Julie moved to Santa Cruz. Alice began working as Director of Administrative Systems at UC Santa Cruz, in the same role she held at Riverside. When Alice and Julie first lived in Santa Cruz, they had a huge house on Cottini Way, in Bonny Doon, up off the Empire Grade and away from the city of Santa Cruz. It was a scenic area with many hills, redwood trees and various wild grasses, and a variety of wildlife. It was also remote and isolated. While beautiful, Alice was not happy with the home or location, and she and Julie moved into a townhouse on Quarry Lane in September of 1983. This house was very close to campus, and still provided a private and scenic location, including a stream in the backyard that many birds and other wildlife visited regularly. Seeing the wildlife was always entertaining and relaxing. Alice spent many hours decorating and furnishing her Quarry Lane home, and planting an abundance of plants and spring bulbs in the gardens. It was beautiful.
While working at UCSC, Alice became an active participant in the Soroptimist International organization of Santa Cruz. A main goal of this organization is to empower and educate women and girls, through volunteer and other work. Alice was elected and installed as 1990-91 president of the Santa Cruz chapter on June 27, 1990. The theme for her installation ceremony was "Alice in Wonderland," and she wore a gold crown and carried a gold scepter. Her board members donned very creative "Alice" character costumes in support. For another installation ceremony, Alice made and wore a University of California mascot costume - a detailed papier-mâché bear head complete with a large nose, an open smiling mouth with a curling pink tongue, and long, fluttery eyelashes, with a commencement gown, hood, and beret. It was adorable and great fun to see.
Alice and Julie loved to go for strawberries and whipped cream at Banana Joe's on the UCSC campus. Another favorite place Alice enjoyed was Antonelli's Begonia Gardens, the beauty, quality and volume of plants was astounding, something she never grew tired of seeing.
Alice sewed many of Julie's high school musical and theater costumes and always attended each and every performance. Alice was always very proud and supportive of Julie's musical interests, especially voice, since Julie was born with an incredible ability to sing. One musical, Anything Goes, Julie played the lead character Reno Sweeney. Julie borrowed a gorgeous 1920's silk crepe flapper dress for the play from her best friend; the dress belonged to her friend's grandmother. Alice made a coordinating cape for the dress with real ostrich feathers. The dress and cape were very elegant and glamorous, and lent a real authenticity to Julie's role. Following Julie's vocals, dancing and acting, the dress was almost the star of the show! On opening night, Julie did a spin during the finale, and the silk crepe fabric shattered from age … and the dress sadly fell apart. That evening, Alice took a devastated Julie to the fabric store and bought new silk and all the necessary fringe, trimmings and notions. Later that very night, Alice began her sewing magic, and with just 15 minutes before the second show began the next evening, an exact detailed copy of the antique dress was ready for Julie to wear on stage. Julie's cast mates and friends were stunned and amazed at how quickly Alice recreated the dress. Once again, the dress helped Julie be a star. The dress continued through the rest of the Anything Goes performances, and later, Alice even wore it to a Soroptimist event.
Another less glamorous costume also comes to mind: the Cow, for one of Julie's high school plays. Again, this costume was very detailed, and required quite a bit of ingenuity to design and construct. A funny thing is that Alice used paint named "Titty Pink" for the papier-mâché udder!
Alice began making jointed teddy bears in the early 1980's. She made them for family and friends, and for fundraisers. She taught Sabrina how to make bears and provided many tips and pointers along the way. Alice also began to learn how to make stained glass projects and made several beautiful window hangings. Alice even made a grandfather clock and a chest of drawers from kits, and taught herself how to re-cane chairs.
Alice also visited Alaska and spent time with lifelong friends Trudy and Gary at their home in Anchorage; she experienced the Northern Lights, went river fishing, and saw many beautiful sights.
Alice became a grandmother for the first time when Megan was born in 1987. She was not certain she was ready for this new phase in life and did not want to be labeled a "grandmother," because she just did not feel "old enough." She experimented with several different and non-traditional names for the baby to call her. After about one minute of holding her new grandchild, Alice fell in love with being a grandmother. Age no longer mattered. Alice eventually settled on being called "Grandmommy" by Megan. In 1992 and 1994, her second and third granddaughters were born, sisters Zoë and Sadie; by then Alice was perfectly ready to be called "Grandma."
Alice retired from the University of California, after 25 years of service in October 1992. After a short break, Alice worked as treasurer for Jess Brown's U.S. congressional representative campaign for a couple of years before she began traveling. She visited Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand with her Soroptimist group. She thoroughly enjoyed visiting other countries and seeing different people and cultures. Alice also loved going to Ruidoso, New Mexico, with her siblings and their spouses.
Alice met her second husband, Bob, in 1993, through Amway/Network 21 and their mutual friends. As Alice and Bob began to work together more closely, first just a couple of times each week in 1995, they began to develop a friendship that soon turned into romance. They began to see each other more often, looking forward to their time together, and soon fell in love. In March of 1997, they traveled to the Philippines and China with Network 21, and then lived in the Philippines for several years to build their business. They came back to California in 1999 and sold the Quarry Lane house in Santa Cruz that summer. Alice and Bob were married on August 3, 1999, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They went back to the Philippines, returning to California in December of 2000. They began looking for a new home, first in the Lake Tahoe area, then Carson City and Minden, Nevada. They decided upon Minden and rented a home on Mahogany Circle for a year before buying their home on Longleaf Place on August 8, 2001. Alice again decorated to her heart's content, making beautiful draperies and window treatments, planting many beautiful garden beds with her beloved iris, tulips and daffodils. Alice and Bob created several walkways with paving stones together. He would cut, and she would place the stones. They also built pergolas and raised garden beds in the backyard. Alice was exceedingly happy in her home with Bob; they were very much in love and made a perfect couple.
In addition to home and landscape improvements, Alice continued making teddy bears and began to create quilts with Bob's help and great sense of color. They had a grand time in the fabric stores, selecting beautiful combinations for a variety of quilts. Alice and Bob made several quilts for friends and family. Each granddaughter received a beautiful quilt made especially for her college graduation. Soon Sabrina's interest in quilting was revived, and Alice and Bob were happy to provide advice to her as she began her own quilting journey in earnest in 2016.
Alice and Bob had a wonderful vacation to Maui, Hawaii. They also made a few visits to Happy Camp, California, where Alice attended her first year of high school. They went on trips to the Grand Canyon, Roswell, and Carlsbad Caverns, and to Sedona and several other places with Alice's siblings and their spouses. They attended the Self Family reunion with Alice's brother and sister-in-law and enjoyed seeing cousins and other long lost relatives, too. The last vacation trip they made together was to San Antonio, Texas.
Alice also loved to visit her adult daughters and their families. She especially enjoyed spending time with her granddaughters, Megan, Zoë, and Sadie, helping when they were babies and very little girls. Later, as the girls began to grow, she loved taking them to the local parks and beaches, having fun on the playground equipment with them, going to their school plays and events, enjoying their piano recitals, and cheering them on at their basketball and softball games. Alice enjoyed shopping with the girls, making craft projects, and baking cookies. Over the years, Alice loved seeing how the girls were growing up and becoming accomplished young women. She was so very proud of each one of them.
Whenever visiting Julie and her family at their ranch, Idyllwilde, Alice thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the pool with everyone. Each time in the pool, Alice had so much fun that she started laughing and soon everyone was giggling along with her! Alice rode horse back twice, on Roux, and laughed and giggled the entire time, too. She loved holding the chickens and seeing all of the animals, as well. She experienced true bliss while visiting Idyllwilde.
In 2015, Alice celebrated her 80th birthday with her family. Each person wrote several memories for Alice, these little stories and many photos from the past and present were placed into a specially crafted box for her. Everyone enjoyed the food, flowers, gifts, and cake, and most of all, being together. It was a very memorable event for everyone.
During the last few years, Alice and Bob did not travel as much, but loved having family and friends visit them. One of Alice's happiest and most joyous times in recent months was having the opportunity to meet and spend time with her great grandson, Ellwood. Alice always loved babies, and for her to be able to see and hold him, and to talk with and cuddle him, was extraordinarily special and extremely wonderful to witness.
Alice died peacefully at 7:30pm on December 22, 2018, at the age of 83, at the Carson Tahoe Medical Center in Carson City, Nevada. Alice's parents, John and Leda; her brother, Jim; her brother-in-law, John Brewer Sr; and two nephews, John Brewer Jr and Kevin Self, preceded her in death. Alice leaves her family:
Husband, Bob
Daughter, Sabrina and her husband, David
Daughter, Julian and her husband, Sean
Granddaughter, Megan her husband, Stephen
Granddaughter, Zoë
Granddaughter, Sadie
Great grandson, Ellwood
Sister, Merle Genevieve Self Brewer
Sister-in-law, Delores
Niece, Karla and her family
Several cousins and many good friends also survive her.
Alice was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, and aunt. She was a true friend, cared for many, and always did her very best at everything. Alice instilled a love and appreciation for family, nature, art, and music in her children, and taught them compassion, empathy and kindness, and how to work hard and persevere through difficult times. Alice will be missed tremendously, but she will always be remembered with deep love and appreciation.
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