BOWIE – Alice E. Weatherby, 96, died of abdominal cancer January 31, 2016, at Collington Retirement Community. She was born February 11, 1919, in Somerville, MA, daughter of Arthur H. and Alice Lillian (Dugan) Christie.
Her determination to be active continued until the end. Alice graduated from the University of Maine in 1941 with a B.A. in history. She met Bev Weatherby, the love of her life and her spouse of 69 years, in Grand Lake Stream, ME, where he grew up in his family’s sporting camp business. Bev also graduated from the University of Maine, and the couple married in 1943. Alice taught high school in Springfield and Machias, ME. Later the couple owned and operated Weatherby’s Fishing Resort, where she did much of the cooking, until 1975. At Weatherby’s they entertained many well-known personalities, such as Ted Williams, Bert Lahr, General Jimmy Doolittle and the writer, Hal Foster. A few years after retirement, they moved to Saint Petersburg, FL, while summering in Forest City, Maine. They enjoyed bringing food and cheer to many of the elderly in St. Pete, where they delivered Meals on Wheels for twenty years. Alice enjoyed her twenty-four summers in Forest City where she helped found the local book club, maintained a flower and vegetable garden and was close to her relatives. Forest City and St. Pete, where they particularly enjoyed the Florida Symphony and dancing at the Coliseum, were the best years of her life. For many years, in addition to birding in Maine and Florida, Alice and Bev took twenty Elder Hostel trips, many of them to birding locations throughout the world.
After living year round in St. Pete for several years, the couple returned to Maine in order for Alice to be closer to her older sister, Ruth Wheaton. They moved to the Ellen Leach Retirement Home in Brewer, Maine. In 2014, after losing her sister and husband, Alice moved to the Collington Retirement Community in Bowie, MD in order to be closer to her daughter. Alice will be greatly missed by her friends in Forest City, ME, the Ellen Leach Home in Brewer, and Collington. She was grateful for the many friendships shared with residents of Collington and for the caring and gracious staff.
Alice is survived by one daughter, Diana, and Patrick Knight of New Carrollton, MD. She is also survived by three nephews and their families. She was predeceased by her husband, Bev, and an infant daughter, Elizabeth.
A service honoring Alice’s life will be held in Brewer, Maine in late spring. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in Alice’s memory to Grand Lake Stream Congregational Church, P.O. Box 18, Grand Lake Stream, ME 04637 or American Institute for Cancer Research, 1759
R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 or Hospice of the Chesapeake, 90 Ritchie Highway, Pasadena, MD 21122 or Woodie Wheaton Land Trust, 2 Grove Road, Forest City Township, ME 04413.