Alice (Van Order) White
Date Submitted: April 24, 2008
Plan To Attend 50th Class Reunion? Yes
Spouse's Name: Roy
Years Married: Almost 47 years, a long time!
Where I Live In Now: Lake Geneva, WI
Number of Children: 4 - 2 boys, 2 girls...my youngest
started kindergarten when my oldest started college and I went back to
school full time in 1981.
Number of Grandchildren: 7
Number of Great Grandchildren: 9 - from 20 to 5 years
old.
Work history: That's a hard one. Off and on I've worked,
here and there, attended college off and on. I finally decided what I wanted
to be when I grew up and got serious. I received my AS in 1982, my BFA
in 1984, my MA in 1986, my MFA in painting in 1988 while raising 4 very
involved children. I think each of them joined everything they could. I
think I set the example and they all went on to obtain many degrees between
them. I teach part time, adjunct professor for a couple colleges. I work
with galleries in Chicago and area (some of my classmates from Albion have
been in my life sized paintings of groups of people, you now sit in Board
rooms or Lawyer's offices)...I continue to take classes, now I am auditing
Sculpture classes at Whitewater College near me, getting into bronze and
iron, life size figures...It's fun working with the young students.
When retired, plan to move to: I will never retire, this
is my life...my husband took early retirement last year when the company
he was with was bought out. He was a research Chemist with the old Morton
Salt Co.
Hobbies: My grandchildren and my traveling...
Have traveled to:One of our favorite things is traveling,
been to Europe a few times, Africa, Sri Lanka, usually following the kids
somewhere..recently joined Friendship Force which promotes travel exchanges
world wide....
Of interest to other classmates: We lost our youngest daughter at 24, 8 years ago, a hard one, but it pushed me into a new direction and I have met new people and have had a lot of new wonderful experiences because of it. My policy is to take something bad and make good come out of it.
One of our favorite
things at home is kayaking, got into that a couple years ago. I still do
some teaching, I doubt if I will ever really retire...having too much fun.
Things I remember about Albion High School: The teachers,
my friends, Band and the trips and all the day to day things that teenagers
do. It helped form who we are today... my mom still lives in Albion and
when I return, it's sad to see what the town has become. In 58 it was vibrant,
it was alive, I wish it could be again. We now live in a vacation town,
by the lake... many antique shops and speciality shops... I've seen many
times how artists and galleries can almost overnight change a slum area
of town into a community again in different parts of the states, I wish
that could happen in Albion? Albion has a lot of history, I wish that could
be developed so people would return. I don't know Albion, I don't know
Mich. anymore, I don't know the reality of the situation...have fun at
the reunion.
E-mail address: alicelwhite@yahoo.com
Personal website: www.alicewhiteartist.com
Photos:
'Life size' painting I did of my grade school class at Washington Gardner...
some of you may be in it... don't remember all the names... but know
Joan, Gary Seitler, Kay Kemler, Sam Weidner, Dave Morgan, me in the red
coat, etc...the kids are life size...if you are in it, you now hang in
a lawyer's office down in chicago... I've had a lot of fun exploring
the art world.
Artwork © Alice White
