Alice Elaine Dean-Daniel

Alice Elaine Dean-Daniel, born November 11, 1941 in Portland to Walter Judson Dean and Erma Crawford Dean, grew up in the small coastal town of Neotsu, Oregon, where her father was postmaster and ran a general store on Hwy. US 101. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Oregon, majoring in history, with a minor in German. She set out for Duluth, Minnesota in a VW Bug to teach history and German before moving to Hawai'i in 1965, where she taught history and became head of the social studies department at Star of the Sea High School in Honolulu. She also volunteered as a lobbyist for Zero Population Growth. She was working as a researcher and aide at the Hawai'i State Legislature when she met her husband-to- be, Tom Daniel, a recently convinced Friend, at a New Year's Eve party in 1978.

Alice married Tom on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, the following New Year’s Eve and moved to Santa Clara, CA, where Alice worked at San Jose Medical Clinic and at the USC Art Department and Tom worked at Lockheed. It was in these years that Alice first attended meetings for worship in Palo Alto and Morse Street (College Park).

Alice and Tom moved to Kona, Hawai’i in June 1982. Their son Michael was born there in October. From that year until her death, Alice was a founding member and active participant in the Big Island Friends Meeting, hosting meetings at her home, providing delicious food and keeping everyone informed about schedules and news.

Alice served for several years on the Board of Family Support Services of West Hawai’i and began teaching private piano lessons in Kona – which she continued for her remaining 34 years. She started “the Mother’s Hui” in 1984 with several other mothers of young children and the parents still meet regularly. Alice and Tom joined the Kona Community Chorus(now Kona Choral Society) when it was founded in 1990 and she served as an early president and longtime member of the board of the organization – with which she was instrumental in founding the Kona Children’s Chorus, now KCS Youth Chorus. She also served as Executive Director of the Friends of the Children’s Justice Center of West Hawai’i from 2002-2010.

Alice died on December 22, 2018 at home in Kona, surrounded by loved ones. A large crowd gathered on the beach for her memorial meeting on the last Sunday of 2018. She is survived by husband Tom Daniel, Kailua-Kona; son Michael Daniel (and daughter in law Gina Reynolds), Stanton, CA; daughter Sara Daniel, Rockville, MD; and grandson Thomas MacLachlan Daniel, Rockville, MD. She was preceded in death by her beloved older brother Robert Dean.

There is a Memorial Fund established to support young people’s access to piano and music. For more details see: www.caringbridge.org/visit/alicedean-daniel/journal.