02.03.08
Auntie Augie, 1904-2007
Whilst trolling about the web for family info, I came upon the following obit for Alice McComb, sister of my maternal grandma and known in my family by the nickname of Auntie Augie. I thought I’d post it so I’d have this in the future. Alice was universally beloved by everyone in the family and, I daresay, by everyone who ever met her. She was the most genuinely sweet person I’ve ever known, someone who was always smiling and whose gentle, ever-ready laugh I can still hear.
Alice B. McComb, age 103, of Indianapolis, passed away April 17, 2007 after a short illness. Alice was born in New Albany, IN on March 11, 1904, she lived in Indianapolis all of her adult life. She was a genius with a needle and specialized in fine fashion alterations and bridal gowns. An employee of Potpourri Shop in Zionsville, she assisted many brides until her retirement in her 80s. She enjoyed bridge and bingo with her friends at Marquette Manor Retirement Community until her 103rd birthday. Mrs. McComb was a member of Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, Pi Omicron Sorority, the Women’s Department Club and the Indianapolis Symphony Women’s Group. Her husbands, Herbert Massie and Erwin McComb and her brother, E. Bartlett Brooks of Dayton, OH preceded her in death. She is survived by her sister, Grace. E. Dale; niece Nancy (Nan) Brooks and nephew John M. Rader of Indianapolis as well as nieces Marsha Brown of Denison, OH, Sandra Jordan of Athens, GA; grandnephews Matthew Sundell of Chicago and Spencer Sundell of Seattle and a wide circle of friends. A memorial service will be held at Marquette Manor, 8140 N. Township Line Road, Indianapolis, IN 46260 on April 28, 2007 at 1PM.
A couple years before Aunt Alice died, I spent an enthralling four hours with her in Indianapolis as she told me tales of her life, over a dinner of fried catfish (one of her favorites). Among the stories that stick with me was one when she was a young girl, which I hope I’ll recount correctly. (Alas and alack, I did not have a tape recorder with me that day.) Her father, I believe, owned a shop in the Ohio River town of New Albany that was devoted to “all things with wheels”, as she told me. In the early 1900s bicycles were still a relatively new and evolving novelty. In those days, it was apparently scandalous for a female to ride one. Nevertheless (or perhaps precisely because), young Alice would occasionally ride a bike through the tiny town, attracting attention and leading curious followers back to the shop.
It may not be a surprise, then, that dear Aunt Alice was a true coquette who was a flirt, albeit always a proper and lady-like one, right to the end. She was also a woman of taste. She told me of how much she loved to attend dances as a young lady, and how at one particular dance she ultimately dumped a very serious suitor for the man who would be her first husband because he wore such fine trousers.
Alice was also an adventurer, in her Indiana Presbyterian way. In the 1970s, she joined a “jet club”, a jet-age travel club that would charter trips all over the world. Among her travels, she told me, was one in 1979 that included a stop in Kabul, Afghanistan…which would have been just barely before the Soviet invasion that same year. Believe me, for ’70s-era Indiana this was about as cosmopolitan as you could possibly get. My father also fondly tells a story of once traveling in Germany with my step mom, when they literally bumped into Alice and her sister, my grandma Grace.
It was truly a pleasure and honor to have known Alice, let alone have her in the family. We all miss her dearly.
