Alice Bond, recently featured in this paper as the oldest resident of Woolwich, died June 22, 2016 at St. Andrews Village Nursing Facility, Boothbay Harbor after a short illness.  She had been admitted to Miles Hospital for congestive heart failure and then sent to skilled nursing services in Boothbay Harbor to recover.  Alice was 96.  

Alice was born as Alice Russell Willard in Hartford, Connecticut on Jan. 15, 1920 to first-time parents John C. Willard and Helen A. Willard of Wethersfield, Conn., where she spent her childhood.  She graduated from Wethersfield High School in 1937, then went on to graduate from Teachers’ College of Connecticut in New Britain (now Central Connecticut State College) in 1941. 

Alice taught elementary school both in East Windsor and Wethersfield until her marriage to Edwin Burnham Bond of Essex, Conn., her college sweetheart, in 1943.  The couple settled in Guilford, Conn., where Alice worked first as a legal secretary and then worked helping the war effort at the Guilford branch of New Departure of Bristol, Conn.  They had daughter Carolyn Burnham Bond in 1946 and Nancy Willard Bond in 1951.

Edwin and Alice had the good fortune to acquire one of the first Volkswagen dealerships in the country in 1958, which they called Bond Volkswagen, located in Old Saybrook, Conn., which they owned for 18 years. During that period in their lives, the couple traveled often, with three trips to Europe and many more to Jamaica.

In 1974, Edwin and Alice followed their daughter Carolyn to Maine, where Edwin established Brunswick Cycles on Maine Street in Brunswick, Maine. They settled in Wiscasset. Alice worked for Coastal Enterprises in Wiscasset for 15 years, retiring in 1990. An intelligent, educated, kind and independent woman, ahead of her time, Alice became active in the Wiscasset community, attending St. Philip’s Church, where she was secretary of the woman’s group. An avid reader, she became an honorary member of the Wiscasset Library and a member of the Wiscasset Female Charitable Society.

Alice lost her husband, Edwin, in 1990, and her granddaughter, Courtney Michelle Gosline, in a car accident in Woolwich, in 1998. In her later years, she sold her house and constructed an attached apartment to her daughter Nancy’s home in Woolwich, where she lived until her death. Alice lost her brother Charles Willard in 2014 and her brother Chester Willard earlier this year.

She is survived by daughters Carolyn B. Davis of Lisbon Falls (spouse Harvey), Nancy W. Gosline of Woolwich (spouse Phil); grandsons Ian M. Davis of Baltimore, Maryland, and Justyn M. Gosline of Woolwich; granddaughter Laura B. (Davis) Drown of Arundel (spouse Ty); and great-granddaughters Lyla J. Drown and Lennon I. Drown. Alice was loved very much and will be missed.

On Monday, June 27, Alice was buried in Wethersfield, Conn. in the cemetery where her ancestors have been laid to rest since the 1600s. Her husband’s ashes were added to her casket. There was no service in Maine.

Donations may be made in Alice’s memory to the Sheepscot Animal Shelter in Edgecomb, to honor her love of cats, or to the Wiscasset Library, to celebrate her love of reading.