Alice Carlson

Alice B. Carlson passed away peacefully at her daughter’s home in Athens, Georgia on Sept. 8, 2007. She lived with her daughter for 4 years after the death of her husband, cared for by her daughter and hospice caregivers Dorna Francis and Wanda Threat.

Alice Bernice Carlson was born on a farm outside Ord, Nebraska on June 22, 1919 to Emil Mathauser and Anna Rousek Mathauser. She attended school in Burwell and upon graduation taught school in the county. She attended the University of Nebraska majoring in education, but only after she had worked to help put her younger brother Eldon through college.

After graduation from the University she continued working there and met her husband, Walter Loren Carlson who was attending college on the G.I. bill after WWII. They married and moved to Washington, D.C. where Walter was with the United States Patent and Trademark office and Alice worked for the U.S. Census Bureau and the Central Intelligence Agency.

After raising children Robert and Carolyn, she became a proud supporter and volunteer for the National Symphony, for the Fairfax Community Concerts, and was most proud of the Providence Republican Women’s Club of Northern Virginia. She was treasurer of the PRWC for 20 years.

After enduring a recurrent bout of larynx cancer, she became a laryngectomee and then a vocal and very active supporter of the International Laryngectomy Association. She visited and counseled recent larynx surgical patients and enthusiastically encouraged their use of an electrolarynx. Her volunteerism also included the American Cancer Society. Of her many volunteer efforts, those that she remained most proud of were her work on the campaigns of many republican candidates, most importantly Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter, and is survived by her children and their spouses: Robert and Carlene Carlson of Denver, Colorado and Dr. Thomas and Carolyn Cadier of Athens, Georgia; as well as her brother and his wife, Eldon and Deloris Mathauser of Newport News, Virginia, and her sister and brother-in-law, Lydia and Donald L. Severson of Grand Island, Nebraska, numerous cousins, a niece and nephew.

Graveside services were at Greenwood Cemetery, York. Memorials may be directed to the family.