Ex-teacher served 35 years in area schools

Alice Reese, 1937-2012

READING, Mich. -- Alice Reese, a retired elementary teacher who worked at Toledo-area schools for nearly 35 years, died Saturday in Laurels of Coldwater. She was 75.

Her husband, James Reese, said she was diagnosed with brain cancer about six weeks ago.

Mrs. Reese began her teaching career in the late 1950s with Toledo Public Schools after receiving a two-year certificate from Bowling Green State University. She joined Washington Local Schools in 1963 and received her bachelor of science degree in education from BGSU in 1965.

Mr. Reese said his wife decided on a career in education when she was 6 years old.

"She decided what she wanted to do the first day she ever attended school," he said. "She was a dedicated teacher. She really enjoyed teaching. She had a good rapport with the kids."

A 1957 Woodward High School graduate, Mrs. Reese taught third and fifth graders at Hiawatha Elementary and spent the last seven years in the seventh-grade classrooms at Jefferson. She had attended graduate school at the University of Toledo. She retired in 1991.

The Reeses subsequently moved from West Toledo to Montgomery, Mich. Mr. Reese said they chose the Hillsdale County community to build their retirement home because they had camped at a lake in the area.

Mr. Reese said he met the former Alice Parish at a skating rink in 1962. They were married Feb. 14, 1964. In their younger years, the couple took up downhill skiing, frequently skiing at Boyne Highlands in northern Michigan. Mr. Reese said they were avid fans of Toledo hockey teams going back to the Blades and Mercurys.

Since 1994, the Reeses wintered for five months in Winterhaven, Fla.

Surviving are her husband, James R. Reese; daughter, Debra Swope; son, Roger S. Reese; sister, Margaret "Peggy" Sniegowski; brother, Donald G. Parish, Jr.; four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Visitation is to be today from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. in Eagle Funeral Home- George White Chapel, Reading. Memorial services are to be June 19 at 11 a.m. in Montgomery United Methodist Church.

The family requests tributes to Montgomery United Methodist Church.

-- Mark Reiter