Alice Anne Garvey

Alice Anne Garvey passed away at home the evening of January 17, 2022, surrounded by her loving family. Her greatest joys were her family and her faith. She was a wonderful mother to Anne King (David), Yvette Spidle-Burger (John), Mary Spidle (David McElroy), and Elaine Ataba. She leaves behind the love of her life and husband of 15 years, William “Bill” Garvey. She is also survived by her eight beloved and “perfect” grandchildren: Paige Burger, Kevin King, Winston Burger, Emma King, Garrett Burger, Colton Burger, Sage Ataba, and Brook Ataba. She was preceded in death by her parents Cyril and Aurora Truchon, her first husband, Gordon Spidle, and her brothers Emile and Cy Truchon.

Alice was born July 3,1938, in Malone, New York. She went to high school at Sacred Heart Academy as a student of the graduating class of 1956. While earning her Bachelor of Science in Education from Rosary Hill College, she was also a novitiate, studying to become a nun. After graduation, she joined the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity. In this new life, she started her lifelong career of teaching and would go on to touch the lives of thousands of students. Alice left the convent when she was 26. Still carrying the Franciscan Sister’s mission of hearing the cries of the poor, Alice set out to make a difference in the global community as a lay person. She moved to Texas to do mission work teaching in the San Antonio schools and saw some of the worst poverty she had ever seen. This experience reinforced her life-time calling to offer service to the needy and suffering. It was while she was in Texas at an Air Force sponsored dance that she met the man who would become her first husband and father of their 4 daughters.

Alice was a servant to the church and dedicated much of her life to religious education, teaching for over 30 years in Catholic grade schools in Maryland. She taught K-8 religious studies at the Woods Academy in Bethesda, and mathematics at St. Bernadette’s in Silver Spring. She earned a Master of Religious Education from Catholic University in 1977 while raising her four daughters and working full time. After retirement, she volunteered at Mother of God in Gaithersburg as a school board chairperson, interim principal, advisor, substitute teacher and at St. John Neumann, also in Gaithersburg, as an instructor for Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Gabriel Project coordinator, Sacristan and Eucharistic Minister. It was in part due to her work with the Gabriel Project that she met Bill Garvey, a man she could lean on and who supported her in her passion to make the world a better place, one person at a time. Bill swept her off her 68 year old feet and they quickly married, becoming partners in life and in their devotion to the church. Together, they received the Manifesting the Kingdom award from Cardinal Wuerl and were honored during a high mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for their service to the church. Until her illness, she served as the regional vice president for the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

In addition to her dedication to family and religion, she led a rich and adventurous life as an avid traveler, lover of classical music, life-long learner of the piano, crocheter, jigsaw puzzle master, green-thumb gardener, mother to countless cats and dogs, and engaged member of a long-running book club. In her last year of life, she was teaching herself Spanish.

Alice had the rare capacity to love more than she was loved. She will be missed, but her light lives on in all of us.

Visitation will be at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg on Tuesday, January 25th from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. and a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, January 26th at 11:00 am St. John Neumann Catholic Church.

Interment for family members will be at All Souls Cemetery in Germantown, Maryland.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Paul de Vincent Society, https://ssvpusa.org. Checks can be made out to SVDP and mailed to St. John Neumann, SVDP Treasurer, 8900 Lochaven Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20882.