Alice E. Peterson

Alice Evelyn Rice Peterson, age 99, of Country Club Retirement Center at Dover and formerly of the Oldtown Valley, died Tuesday, March 8, 2011, in Mercy Medical Center at Canton following a brief illness.A daughter of the late Oliver Arthur and Edna Jane Angel Kinsey, Alice was born on January 3, 1912, in the Oldtown Valley at New Philadelphia and subsequently raised in the same area.She was the valedictorian of New Philadelphia’s graduating class of 1929 and married Robert Frederick Rice in St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, her lifelong church home, on May 14, 1938. The couple relocated and raised three sons in Harvey, Illinois and upon their retirement moved back to the Oldtown Valley in 1975. As a young lady, Alice was given the nickname of “Honey” and was known to her family and close friends as such. She enjoyed traveling extensively with her family having covered all 50 states and six of the seven continents. Additionally, she was an avid reader and a member of numerous book clubs throughout her years. Alice also took pride in her research of family history and went to great lengths documenting each individual’s particular placement within the family tree.Following the death of her first husband in 1993, Alice married a lifelong family acquaintance named Arnold Peterson on August 17, 1995 and relocated to Havre, Montana where she resided until June of 2010 following Arnold’s death in 2009.Alice leaves behind three sons, James Kinsey Rice and his wife Linda Angel of the Oldtown Valley, John Oliver Rice and his wife, Nancy, of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, and William Robert Rice and his wife, Susie, of Monroeville, Pennsylvania; four grandchildren, Deborah Rice Hutchison, Diane Rice Segura both of Austin, Texas, Robert Todd Rice of Newport Beach, California, and Lynn Marie Rice of Monroeville, Pennsylvania; as well as four great-grandchildren.Completing the family are seven step-children and their families whom she enjoyed sharing a great deal of time with during the past 15 years. The family will receive friends on Friday, March 11, 2011, from 4:00 â?? 7:00 PM in the Linn-Hert-Geib Funeral Home & Crematory at New Philadelphia. Rev. Hugh B. Berry will lead a funeral service celebrating Alice’s life in the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on Saturday, March 12, 2011, at 1:30 p.m. Burial will follow in the Evergreen Burial Park at New Philadelphia. Following services the family will return to the social hall of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church where a meal and fellowship will be shared.The family requests memorial contributions in Alice’s name be directed to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 3640 Oldtown Valley Road SW, New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663.