Alice Elizabeth Dash Scheuer's Obituary
Alice Elizabeth Dash Scheuer, a Manoa resident for 62 years, died peacefully in her beloved Hawai’i on August 8, 2013. She was born Alice Dash on April 10, 1923 in Baltimore Maryland, the daughter of Henry Phillip Dash and Margaret (Cook).
After graduating from high school in 1941 she served her country in WWII with the US Army. After the war, she enrolled at Radcliffe College (A.B. 50, cum laude) and while there, met, and then married Paul J. Scheuer. After their respective graduations, and upon a job offer to him, they moved to Hawai’i in 1950 (arriving on the SS Lurline) where he began a 50 year career in the UH Chemistry Department.
Prior to the birth of her children she earned an M.A. at UH and lectured in the English Department. She subsequently returned to UH, earning a PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1992, and lectured in the Psychology Department. She was a former member of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Royal Scottish Dance Society and Caledonian Society, Harvard-Radcliffe Club, Phi Kappa Phi, Malama Manoa, and a devoted member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where she served on the vestry for many years.
A patron of the local arts community, she loved the symphony and opera, and was frequently found at openings, whether at the Art Academy, Contemporary Museum, or plays at Kennedy Theater or Manoa Valley Theater (nee HPAC). An enormous heart and mind in a tiny person, she enlivened any gathering she was a part of.
She was a committed writer, penning many freelance articles and letters to the editor. She was very active in social causes including the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s, which later led her to founding the local chapter of Psychologists for Social Responsibility.
A vibrant intellectual curiosity led her to numerous degrees over the years, but her attitude towards learning was summed up in her story of how upset she was when Radcliffe ‘forced’ her to graduate. They wouldn’t let her take any more classes! Well into her 80s she both continued to learn, as well as teach, via the Academy for Lifelong Learning.
She of course found time for her husband and four children, being both homemaker and hostess, in addition to all her goings on! Freshly baked bread, homemade lilikoi juice popsicles, German-style Cheese Cake: she loved being in the kitchen and seeing people enjoy the fruits of her culinary labors.
She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, Kenneth, and husband Paul. She is survived by her four children, Elizabeth (Tim) Carlson New Rochelle, NY, Deborah (Howard) Haeker Gainesville, Fl David (Jack Campbell) Palm City, FL and Jonathan (Cami) Honolulu, as well as grandchildren Joshua, Gainesville, Fl, and Saul, Honolulu.
Alice’s family would like to invite her many friends, and those whose lives she touched, for a Memorial Service on September 21, 2013. Visitation will begin at 1PM, with Services to commence at 2. A private committal of her ashes at St. Andrew’s Cathedral will be held following the service, while guests are invited to a reception at St. Peter’s Parish Hall. Aloha attire is requested. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Paul J. Scheuer Award Endowment at the University of Hawaii Foundation or to St. Peter's Episcopal Church.
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