RYE, N.H. – Alice Corning Hume Sleight, 98, passed away peacefully Jan. 6, 2004, at her home at Webster at Rye Health and Retirement Community in Rye, N.H., after a brief illness. She was the daughter of George Seward and Bessie Fabens Stevens Corning Hume. She graduated from the Eastport public schools and from Howard Seminary and Kathryn Gibbs in Boston. She worked for Houghton Mifflin Publishing House in Boston for several years. Upon the death of her father, she returned to Eastport to manage the C.W. Hume Insurance Agency. She also worked as an assistant to Dexter Cooper, who designed the Quoddy Tidal Power Project. She later served as librarian of the Peavey Memorial Library in Eastport for 24 years and remained in Eastport until 1983, when she and her husband relocated to Portsmouth, N.H. She returned to her cottage on Boyden Lake summers up until the time of her death. A descendent of an Eastport naval hero of the Civil War, Joseph E. Cony, she was asked in 1942 to christen the destroyer USS Cony, built in the Bath Shipyard, and to rechristen the ship after World War II, when it again saw service in the Korean War. She was a charter member of the Eastport Literary Round Table and a member of the Washington Street Baptist Church. During her years in Portsmouth, she attended the North Church of Portsmouth, UCC, and became active in their Nearly New Shop and Bible Study programs. She was a member of the Portsmouth Garden Club and the Graffort Club, and a frequent guest of the Rye Arts Study Group. She is survived by her two daughters, Elizabeth S. Canney of Portsmouth, N.H. and Ann S. Harrison of Readfield; two sons-in-law, Calvin A. Canney and Millard D. Harrison; five grandchildren, Lisa Ann Chesaux of Portland, Sara J. Leonard of Falmouth, Thomas C. Canney of Boston, William S. Harrison of East Winthrop and Jill Hume Harrison of Newport, R.I.; six great-grandchildren; a half sister-in-law, Mrs. Hartland (Gladys) Kelley of West Lubec; two nieces, Anne P. Rugh of Lubec and Portland, and Mary P. Collegeman of Bellvue, Wash.; a nephew, Earland Sleight of Orono and six great-nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, William R. Sleight. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, at the Washington Street Baptist Church, Eastport. In lieu of flowers, friends may make gifts in her memory to the Peavey Memorial Library, the Washington Street Baptist Church or the Tides Institute.
ALICE CORNING HUME SLEIGHT
