Alice Lorena Whitmore Lapham

Alice Lorena Whitmore Lapham, a woman of Christian faith, passed away peacefully on February 7, 2014. She was born June 12, 1930 in Kansas City, Missouri to Samuel Paxton Whitmore and Bertha Lorena Speck Whitmore. The family moved to Stover, Missouri and lived there until 1936. Then they moved to the Rio Grande Valley, settling in Harlingen, Texas. She graduated from Harlingen High School in 1947, attended Texas Wesleyan College in Fort Worth for two years, transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, and graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. After graduation, she became employed by Humble Oil and Refinery Company in Houston until February 9, 1957 when she married Arthur Lowell Lapham, Jr. They moved to Victoria, Texas where he established a long-standing law practice. For a short time, she worked for Victoria Bank and Trust in the oil and gas division. She then dedicated her life to her role as wife, mother and grandmother, while also being a devoted daughter and only child to her parents.

During her time in Victoria she participated in various community and church activities, including serving as President of the First Christian Church Women’s Fellowship and President of the Citizens Hospital Auxiliary. She was also active in the PTA and in her husband’s and children’s activities.

She had an abiding love of family history and family heirlooms. Over the years she held various offices in lineage and patriotic societies, including the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the US Daughters of 1812, Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Colonists, Colonial Dames of the 17th Century and the Magna Charta Dames.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1998. Surviving are daughter, Mary Alice Lapham Feeney and her husband Patrick Joseph Feeney, Jr. of Austin Texas, grandchildren Sarah Virginia Feeney and Arthur Patrick Feeney; daughter, Rosanna Lorena Lapham, MD and her husband Edgar James Casner of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and grandchildren Maxwell Arthur Russell, Blair Iain Russell and Lindsay Lapham Russell; and son, Justus Whitmore Lapham of Victoria, Texas.

There will be a visitation at Colonial Funeral Home on Sunday, February 9th from 4 to 6. Respecting her wishes, there will be a private graveside service.

If friends desire, memorial donations may be made to the charity of their choice or to the Victoria College Foundation for the Daughters of the American Colonists – Daniel Braman Chapter Endowment, 2200 East Red River, Victoria Texas 77901.

Words of comfort may be shared with the family at www.colonialfuneralhomevictoria.com.