Alice Campbell, 72, of Beverly MA, passed away after a short illness on June 25 in The Villages, FL.
Alice was born in Beverly to Doris and Huntington Howard into a large and vibrant musical family. She went to Beverly schools and graduated from Salem State College with bachelor’s degree in social work, Simmons College with a master’s in library science and Salem State College with a master’s in Higher Education Student Affairs. She and her husband Robert happily celebrated their 50th anniversary last year. She was a professional trumpeter as a teen and considered herself the “best third trumpet player.” She worked as a librarian in law, medical, public, defense, and financial libraries and could find information in an instant.
Alice was a very proud mother of one daughter, Leah whom she was able to see graduate with her doctorate in music education from Boston University a few days prior to her passing. Alice also saw her beloved son-in-law, Air Force Lt. Colonel Pavi Murthy graduate with his second master’s from the Naval War College. Not long before she passed, she had spent time with her cherished granddaughters Sonali, a talented trombonist, musical theater performer, and soccer player and Ariya, who had just won Outstanding Entry in the National History Day competition. Alice also saw Ariya star as Willy Wonka in the Wonka Jr. musical and beamed with joy as she saw Ariya’s band, the floating docks play live and perform a song dedicated to her entitled “Alice.”
Alice was a member of the DAR, the Mayflower Society, and the St. Vincent DePaul choir. She enjoyed reading, swimming, live music, tai chi, fashion, entertaining, and cooking, especially with her grandchildren. As a gifted idea person, she loved to come up with ideas and have Robert and Leah execute them. She was incredibly intelligent and was a font of knowledge and memories for all who knew her. Alice enjoyed cooking a great deal, and famously (to her daughter at least) she never seemed to taste her food while cooking and it would still have delicious flavor.
A great facilitator, Alice encouraged people to follow their dreams to pursue education, as evidenced by her sister-in-law Gail’s J.D., her husband’s doctorate, and her daughter’s master’s and doctorate. Cats and Alice had a mutual affection that endured throughout her life. Travel was something she enjoyed doing and Alice had seen much of the US, relaxed in the Caribbean, spent a lot of time in Germany, explored all over Europe and Great Britan and adventured to Egypt and Turkey.
Alice was predeceased by her parents and two sisters Rebecca Lee and Linda Howard. She is survived by her spouse Robert Campbell, daughter Leah and son-in-law Pavi Murthy, siblings Charles Howard, Trudy Nibby, Dan Howard, Jason Howard, Connie Villanti, and grandchildren Ariya and Sonali Murthy.
A celebration of Alice’s life will take place at 4:00 p.m. on July 20, at Odell Recreation Center. There will also be a funeral at her home church of First Baptist Church in Beverly on August 17th at 2:00 p.m.