Alice Simons Siedner, 93

Activist, Feminist and Friend

Pacific Palisades resident Alice Winslow Simons Siedner, World War II overseas volunteer, early feminist and author, succumbed to cancer on October 18. She was 93. Alice was born on October 22, 1913 in Montreal, Canada. She was a direct descendant of Edward Winslow, first governor of the Plymouth Colony. She graduated from McGill University in 1936 and was a lifelong member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In 1942, Alice volunteered for overseas service with the British Mechanized Transport Corps and traveled on a troop transport ship to England with 100 other young Canadian women. She was a member of the driving unit serving the Ministry of Supply in London. Upon her return to Canada, she studied hand weaving, and went on to become the director of the Handicraft Division at Macdonald College of McGill University. While attending the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1946, she took a trail ride into the Rockies, and met a tax attorney and estate planner, Gustave Simons of New York City. When the couple married in 1948, Alice became an American citizen. The couple lived at Faraway Farm in Weston, Connecticut, for 30 years. During this time, Alice devoted herself to community service. She was president of the Emmanuel Church Woman’s Guild, and in 1957 created the Weston Workshop for Women, an early cornerstone of the feminist movement in Fairfield County. She co-authored the book ‘Money and Women’ and assisted her husband in the research for his book, ‘What Every Woman Doesn’t Know.’ Alice was also chairman of the Mid-Fairfield Child Guidance Center, and in 1962 produced a benefit concert featuring Louis Armstrong. In 1962, she ran as a Democrat for the Connecticut State Legislature, and although she didn’t win, she garnered more votes than any other Democratic candidate had in previous years. In 1966, Alice visited Israel and converted to Judaism. At age 75, she celebrated her bat mitzvah. Alice and Gustave moved west in 1980 and lived in Palm Desert until Gustave passed away in 1999. At that point she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, Brook and Jay Dougherty and their daughter Alicia in the Palisades Highlands. Not one to ever consider becoming an ‘old lady,’ Alice joined University Synagogue and its Sisterhood, met Frank Siedner in 2000, and married him in 2003 at age 89. Frank died in 2004, and Alice moved back with her daughter, Brook, where she continued to live life to the fullest. She enjoyed her membership in the Palisades Woman’s Club, a Scotch on the rocks daily, and dinners at Dante’s and the Pearl Dragon. One evening about two months before Alice died, her daughter asked her what her secret was. Almost asleep, Alice answered, ‘Life is so much easier when you do as you’re told. Life is so much easier when you do everything with love.’ In the morning, Brook reminded Alice that she had never been one to do what she’d been told. ‘You went across the Atlantic on a troop convoy. You were in the war. You married an American. You converted to Judaism,’ Brook said. They two of them then decided that what she must have meant was doing what her heart told her to do. Alice is survived by her daughter Brook Dougherty (husband Jay); son Winslow Edward Isaac Simons (partner Alison Bowman) of Oakland; five stepchildren, including Joan Constantikes, Edna Alvarez, Gail Humphreys (husband Steve), Karen Brown (husband Robert) and William Simons; 15 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. A private memorial was held.