Alice passed away peacefully on her 91st birthday in Williamsburg, VA, surrounded by her three loving sons. Alice was preceded in death by her parents, Howard and Leah Painter, her two sisters, Margaret Perry and Mary Louise Painter and her husband and best friend of 72 years, James A. Stackpole.
She was a steadfast and loving mother to her children Peter (and Lisa) Stackpole, Robert (and Katherine) Stackpole and Andy Stackpole, and proud grandmother of Emma and Evan, Christina, Ryan and Lauren.
A native of southern California, Alice grew up in Brentwood near Los Angeles. She attended Marlborough High School and later South Pasadena High School, the University of Southern California where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
After marriage Alice accompanied Jim in his deployments as a Navy pilot to bases in Florida, Texas and California. When he retired from the Navy, Jim was called to religious service. He received a MS in divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. During that time, as their family grew, Alice worked for the President of the University of California, Robert Sproul. As a newly ordained minister, Jim accepted his first position at the Reformed Church in Bronxville, NY, where he and Alice raised their three sons.
From Bronxville to Brooklyn to Syosset, NY Alice made a home at the church manses where Jim was a Minister, and welcomed and entertained church congregants and friends. Alice also had a busy professional career. She was for many years an executive for the pollster Louis Harris, where she was a Vice President and Director of Survey Fielding. Upon her retirement, she decided to pursue her lifelong passion for cooking, and opened and operated two gourmet cookware and catering shops named “The Wire Whisk” on Long Island.
During their lives together, Alice and Jim enjoyed playing golf, gardening, attending the opera and traveling. Alice was several times the women’s golf champion at Bronxville’s Siwanoy Country Club. Upon Jim’s retirement in 1999, they designed and constructed their dream home in Ford’s Colony, Williamsburg, Virginia, where for more than two decades they enjoyed social activities with their many friends.
Memorial Services are yet to be scheduled.
