Alice Elizabeth (Paine) TIFFIN

TIFFIN, MASTRANARDI, PAINE, HILLYARD

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/21/2016 at 16:11:22

May 24, 1931 ---- August 19, 2016

Alice E. Tiffin, 85, of Cedar Rapids, passed away on Friday August 19, 2016 after a long illness, at Northbrook Manor Care Center in Cedar Rapids. Alice’s husband was her caregiver at home for a number of years before she moved to Northbrook. Private services and burial will take place at Cedar Memorial Funeral Home in Cedar Rapids.

Survivors include Alice’s husband of 61 years Joseph; daughter Mary Tiffin of Cedar Rapids; son Michael (Paula) Tiffin of Garland, Texas; granddaughter Alissa Tiffin; sister Margaret Mastranardi of Tolland, Connecticut; two nieces and a nephew. Alice was preceded in death by her parents.

Alice was born in Eagle Grove, Iowa and graduated from the town’s high school and junior college. In high school she was a member of the National Honor Society, sang in the girls’ glee club, and wrote articles for the student newspaper. Alice sang in the junior college choir and was on the college newspaper staff. She worked at the Eagle Grove Library as the assistant librarian during her junior and senior years of high school, and also during junior college. Alice attended Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in botany. She was a member of the Science Women’s club and the Botany Club. While attending ISU, Alice worked part time in the botany department’s seed laboratory. After graduation, she worked full time for a year in the seed laboratory, assisting with lab classes and performing seed analysis.

Alice met Joseph at Iowa State, and they married in Eagle Grove after college graduation. They moved to Cedar Rapids for his job as an engineer at FMC-Linkbelt. She worked at the Cedar Rapids Public Library in technical processes. After their children were born, Alice was a full time homemaker and mother.

Her family has fond memories of home cooked meals and a cookie jar full of made-from-scratch treats. Alice was a gentle, loving, and caring person, and a good mother who enjoyed her children and making a home for her family. Because of her botany degree, Alice was interested in nature - and liked to pet bumblebees in the flower garden!

Alice was a charter member of Lovely Lane United Methodist church, when the congregation met at Cedar Memorial Chapel while the church was being built. Alice enjoyed the friendships that she made while attending the weekly women’s bible study group, plus helping at church potlucks, bazaars, and the Active Retiree meals. She served on the church’s telephone Prayer Chain, care and Concern committee, and was a member of United Methodist Women. Alice volunteered at the church’s preschool on F Avenue NW, Meals on Wheels, school PTA, and bible study groups at local nursing homes. She belonged to PEO for 65 years, and was honored by Chapter DK at her 50-year membership anniversary.

The family is planning to donate a memorial item to Lovely Lane Church in memory of Alice. There is no visitation, so please send a sympathy card message to the family, or post a memory of Alice or message for the family. Thank you to the staff of Northbrook Manor Care Center, UnityPoint Hospice, and to her doctors for caring for Alice. Thank you to friends, neighbors, and clergy who visited, helped, or sent cards during Alice’s long illness.

http://www.cedarmemorial.com/Obituary/2016/Aug/Alice-Tiffin/

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[daughter of George and Edith Miriam (Hillyard) Paine]