Alice Maurine Higginbotham Coulter

Alice Maurine Higginbotham Coulter Of Gainesville, Virginia; on December 17, 2018 Born July 23, 1935, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to Frank Higginbotham and Maurine McIlroy Higginbotham. Alice attended Depauw University and graduated from the University of Maryland (College Park) in 1957. In 1958 she married Alan George Coulter of Chicopee, Massachusetts, and settled in Fairfax County, Virginia, where she worked for many years as an elementary school teacher and school aide. She took great joy – more than most – in choosing birthday and Christmas gifts; the homes of family and friends are full of loving remembrances. She had a magic touch with plants, keeping a garden in her kitchen window and tending a tropical hibiscus at school until it grew almost to the ceiling. She was a genius with the small children in her classroom, and invested all her love in raising her family. Alice took great pleasure in visiting the beach, and in 1988 Alice purchased a second home in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, where she could also savor local history, including nearby Kitty Hawk, the site used by the Wright brothers to test and fly their airplanes. She enjoyed nothing more than a good conversation around her kitchen table. Her storytelling, wisdom, and sense of humor will be greatly missed. She is survived by her two children, Carol (Joseph) and David (Susan), her nephew Christopher (Katerina), and her sister, Elizabeth (Erasmo). She was predeceased by her husband Alan and brother, Donald Keith Higginbotham. She is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews, and her grandchildren, Emily, Rory, Lauren, Derek, Carson, Piero and Violet. A memorial service will be held from 6-8pm on Friday, January 11, 2019 at Demaine Funeral Home, 5308 Backlick Rd., Springfield, VA 22151. Services will be held privately at Columbia Gardens Cemetery.