Alice Tomlin Burgess died at the age of 86 on December 9, 2023. She was raised in Hudson, Ohio and spent her final happy decades in Wellesley, MA. She loved making lists, and so to honor her memory here is ours, from her grandchildren and children who loved her very much:

1) Loving grandmother -- the pleasure she derived from her only granddaughter Katie and her grandsons Cooper, Sam and Tracy sustained her in a profound and nourishing way. Nans was very loved, and she knew that. She loved and supported her grandchildren in everything they did, even when it was, in her words, "some bleeding heart liberal cause." No matter how heated any Thanksgiving debates ever became, her love for her family transcended any political views, and we all felt the same. Although Alice would have shuddered at any request for donations, if you feel you must, make a donation to a charity that buys Christmas presents to local children in need. Alice would be happy to know that someone else's grandchild received a special gift.

2) Supportive mother -- Bob and Sarah were raised on a steady diet of unconditional love, and it made them nearly as resilient as Alice.

3) Loyal friend -- her circle of friends was inspirational, defying age, geography and her own demographics. Up until the very last days of her life, she was enjoying the emails from friends as close as a few houses down her street, to her old friend from Inner Mongolia (whose family clay kang she had slept on when she first met him in China before he emigrated to the States). Thanks to all of those friends for their well wishes and reminiscences which cheered her much in her final weeks of life.

4) Gracious hostess and defender of etiquette and good grammar – even in the emergency room, she shushed us for being too loud and disturbing other patients.

5) Incredible grit -- she embraced the ethos of stiff upper lip. Only her very oldest and closest friends are familiar with the early hardships this was born out of: absentee alcoholic parents and two older siblings who died tragically. Alice's sister died before Alice was born, and her brother and best friend Watt died at age 16 in a crash when piloting his own plane. Until his death at age 55, Alice bore up under decades of marriage to an emotionally abusive husband. You would never have guessed any of that, we know.

6) She also loved a good laugh -- even at her own expense. How many times did she show us the emails from London friends Nick and Kate looking forward to "dining with a corpse," when, already terminally ill, she pulled a runner and left hospice care for a quick hop across the pond. Also, diminished to about 85 pounds and pushing a walker, she planned to attend a conference on the Anglo-Zulu War during this (solo!!!) trip to London. Yes, you can only shake your head. Alas, she fell and broke her leg almost immediately upon arriving in the city -- after which she was pleased to inform her friends that she was "the last casualty of the Anglo-Zulu War."

7) Antarctica to Zimbabwe -- the travel list alone would require a tome. We're pretty sure she never made it to Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and North Korea (but only because her son the Marine put his foot down) -- but we think she made it everywhere else. That explains all the pictures on her refrigerator where she is petting apex predators or looking up at a monkey on her head. And when she was not traveling herself, she was vicariously enjoying others' adventures, through her cherished Harvard Traveler's Club.

8) Expert needleworker -- she did restorations of important historic textiles for museums, and of her grandchildren's bedraggled schmattes (which honestly should have been thrown away). Up through the last year of her life, she earned her "pin money" designing and stitching fine needlepoint canvases. (On a recent trip to the hospital, the EMTs were instructed to load on the ambulance the needlepoint she was working on for a friend and neighbor.)