Louise Hewitt Aldrich

Louise is survived by her loving husband of 72 years, Warren Spencer Aldrich. Louise was born September 10, 1927 in Elmira, New York, the daughter of Ryland Hugh Hewitt and Anna Marion Stafford Hewitt. Her only sibling, Ryland Hugh Hewitt, Jr. preceded her in death.

She spent her formative years in upstate New York and in Rhode Island. Louise was graduated from Norwich, New York High School in 1945, and she was a proud 1949 graduate of Elmira College in Elmira, New York.

Louise and Warren were united in marriage at the United Church of Christ, Norwich, New York on June 25, 1949. They raised two children, the late David Hewitt Aldrich, an attorney, and Nancy Louise Aldrich Cunningham, a Certified Public Accountant. Louise was a dedicated wife and mother and was extremely proud of her family. The family settled in upstate New York in the communities of Syracuse and Clinton before moving to Birmingham, Michigan in 1971.

In 1973, the family relocated to the Atlanta area, where they settled in Dunwoody. During the 31 years she lived in Dunwoody, Louise had many and varied interests including textile arts and gardening. She was a prolific quilter, knitter, needlepoint artist and sewer, and she left a lasting legacy of hand work to her family. Louise was founder and first president of Dunwoody’s Spalding Garden Club of which she was a member for close to 30 years. She was an accredited National Garden Clubs flower show judge, a member of North Georgia Judges Council and a member of Designers, a flower show judges study group. Louise was a dog-lover all her life and was the proud owner of a myriad of Border Collies, Shelties and Boxers. Louise was a decades-long member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization in which her mother, daughter and granddaughters also belonged.

In 2004, Louise and Warren retired to Pine Mountain, Georgia where they built a home in the Longleaf neighborhood of Callaway Gardens. For the thirteen years Louise and Warren lived at Callaway, they volunteered at the Garden, were active members of the First United Methodist Church of Pine Mountain and cultivated life-long friendships with Longleaf neighbors. Together with Warren, Louise founded the David H. Aldrich Community Center of Pine Mountain in memory of their son who died in 2006. Upon moving back to Dunwoody in 2017, Warren and Louise donated the Center to Fellowship of Christians United in Service (FOCUS).

Louise is preceded in death by her parents Ryland and Marion, her son David, her brother Ryland “Hugh” and his wife Rowena Fairchild Hewitt, her niece Rebecca Hewitt Coughtry and her brother-in-law and his wife Walter and Bobbie Aldrich. She is survived by her husband Warren, her daughter Nancy (John), her daughter-in-law Victoria Reason Aldrich, her grandchildren Michael Ryder Aldrich (Emily), Mary Louise Cunningham Boissoneault (Marc), Sarah Margaret Cunningham, and Paul David Aldrich. She is also survived by a great-grandson Charles Hewitt Aldrich, and by four nieces, Linda Aldrich, Martha Aldrich Wolf, Roxanne Hewitt and Ruth Hewitt Wiseman.

For those who choose, the family welcomes a memorial donation in Louise’s name to First United Methodist Church of Pine Mountain, c/o Building Fund, 206 McDougald Ave., P.O. Box 246, Pine Mountain, GA 31822.