Alice Lorraine Hites, 91, passed away Sunday, March 12, 2023, at Royal Plaza Retirement Center in Lewiston.
Alice was born July 13, 1931, in Potlatch, to Lulabelle and Leonard Berry. She grew up during the Depression era on a farm outside of Potlatch, alongside her sister, Marie. While her father worked in a sawmill, Alice helped with jobs all around the house and the farm, developing a strong work ethic. Alice would take any chance she could to spend weekends with her grandmother, who she idolized and felt at peace with.
Alice married her lifelong love, Jack E. Hites, on July 30, 1949. They welcomed daughter Kathy in 1951, in Moscow. Shortly before David’s arrival in 1960, the family moved to Lewiston where Alice and Jack lived for the rest of their lives.
After her children started school, Alice worked as a secretary in the administrative office at the Northwest Children’s Home. Later she worked at the Lewis-Clark State College day care and absolutely loved both her “kiddos” and the staff.
Throughout the years, Alice and Jack’s house was a common meeting spot, and Alice greeted everyone with a listening ear. She loved to kill time and play games, she loved to engage in conversation and she loved to learn. She was intuitive and usually knew exactly the right thing to say.
Alice always welcomed and loved her children’s friends and partners, her neighbors, and her grandkids’ friends and partners. She easily built lasting friendships and loved people deeply for who they were.
Dave and Kathy will remember Alice for her kindness and her acceptance. Their mom never judged others and always took the high road. She would have gone to the ends of the earth for her family and could magically sense when they needed her.
Her grandchildren were her core for the majority of her life. She was a positive force in their lives.
She watched years worth of Atlanta Braves baseball with Collette and Trevor. Later in life, when Alice and Jack were retired, their place became Bryan and Caitie’s second home.
All of the memories of sleepovers, cookie bars and birthday cakes, “Elliott” the stuffed eagle, “Nancy Drew” reading, plenty of shopping and lots of conversation from the passenger seat make up much of her grandkids’ childhoods.
Alice and Jack celebrated 73 anniversaries together on Earth. After losing her husband only months ago, Alice was reunited with Jack in time to celebrate their 74th together in heaven.
Alice is preceded in death by her father, Leonard Hites; mother, Lu Anderson; step-father, Andy Anderson; sister, Marie Broennekke and husband, Jack.
She is survived by her daughter, Kathy (Russ) Martin; son, David (Mary) Hites; grandchildren, Collette (Eric) Denton, Trevor (Kendra) Martin, Bryan Hites and Caitlin Hites; great-granddaughters, Paige, Cora and Abigayle; and one great-great-grandson, Boston.
The family would like to thank the team at Royal Plaza, many of whom Alice considered to be her very dear friends, including her best friend “Betty Boop,” who took incredible care of Alice and her family. Despite the systemic underfunding in senior centers, the relationships she built with countless staff kept her feeling loved and fulfilled in the midst of the pandemic and in her final years.
There is a celebration of Jack and Alice’s lives scheduled for noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at the VFW Hall in the Orchards.
