Alice Ruth Gordon Arnwine

Born Alice Ruth Gordon on Sep. 19, 1930 in Lakeland, her parents were Shelly B. Gordon (1899-1991) and Bertha DeVane Gordon (1901-1992). Alice was a Christian, a 1948 graduate of Lakeland High School, she earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Alabama, and a Master's Degree from Florida State University. She was proud to be an American, and a Southerner, and was a fourth-generation Floridian who was a descendent of Colonial Americans, and, through them, a descendent of some of the Royal families of Europe.

In 1955, Alice married Eugene "Gene" Arnwine of Birmingham, Ala., whom she met while both were studying at the University of Alabama, and, after marriage, they briefly lived in Charlotte, N.C., Tampa, and Lakeland. She taught at Yates Elementary School in Brandon in 1956. From 1957-1959, she and Gene owned and operated the Town n' Country Store in Lakeland, before moving to Valrico in 1961, where they lived for the remainder of their lives. They had one son, Jeffrey, born in 1963.

In the 1980s Alice became increasingly concerned about the need for sound growth management and environmental policies, and became known and respected for her work promoting those policies on the local government level. In 1988 she was elected to a four-year term on the Hillsborough Soil & Water Conservation Board, choosing to serve one term. She was also a member of the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee from 1982-1986.

She was a corporate officer of Holly Cove, Inc. from 1987-2016.

Alice was predeceased by her husband, Gene, in 1998, and by her two sisters, Mary G. Bowman of Auburndale in 2013 and Margie G. Howard of Campbellton in 2015. She is survived by her son, Jeffrey Arnwine, of Valrico; a niece, Annette B. Hall of Auburndale; four nephews, James and Joseph Bowman of Auburndale, David Howard of Cedar Key, and Gordon Howard of Campbellton, and good friends.