Darita Rose Alden
Date of birth
Date of death
Meeting
Memorial minute
Darita Rose Alden was born on April 12, 1949, in Toledo, Ohio. She was the oldest of six children. The family moved to Palo Alto, CA in her adolescence. Raised Catholic, Darita Rose became interested in Quakers and started attending Palo Alto Friends Meeting when she was in high school. She later pursued other paths and was a deeply spiritual person all her life.
She graduated from University of California Santa Cruz with a degree in comparative literature. She also had an abiding interest in history, philosophy, religion and music. She worked at Stanford Research Institute for some time after college. Later she married and had two children.
She moved to Eugene in 2004 and became a member of Eugene Monthly Meeting. Darita Rose struggled with poor health and chronic pain for most of her adult life, but she faced it with patience, courage and hope.
She had a lively intellect, was a voracious reader with an encyclopedic memory, curious about everything and loved to have long conversations in depth with just about anyone. She didn’t drive and for years. Friends took turns taking her on weekly shopping trips. She was loved by many and will be missed. She died on May 12, 2024 after a long struggle with cancer.