Vibrant, popular storyteller dies at 102
Alice Mary Windle / 1904-2006
It wasn't the first word she spoke, but it was her most memorable: "earthcake." That's how Alice Mary Windle described what was happening in her native San Francisco 100 years ago, an event that would come to be known as the "Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906."
Over the next century, Windle saw countless other landmark events, from Prohibition to the moon landing to the millennium. The 102-year-old Windle died July 20 in Lanikai.
She was a founding member of the Lakeshore (Calif.) Women's Club and was known for her charity work at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland.
"Probably her claim to fame was Irish fisherman's knits that identified the different villages," daughter-in-law Vaughna Windle said. "She traveled to Ireland and learned the patterns. She taught knitting for years and was one of the first in California to buy a knitting machine. She kept us all in sweaters, caps, booties and afghans."
Windle also kept her family and friends entertained with stories of her travels up and down the California coast with her husband of 60 years, the late Roy Blaney Windle, a lineman for the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The couple also made bathtub gin in their basement during Prohibition as well as root beer, which exploded occasionally.
"There were 1,000 beer bottles in the basement, and they tried to fill them," Vaughna Windle said. "Friends would visit and kept defeating the whole plan."
Alice Mary Windle visited Hawaii often before moving to Lanikai in 1996 to live with her granddaughter Robin Librie and husband Mark.
Windle is also survived by daughter Jane Hardy of Carmel, Calif., three grandchildren, four great grandchildren and caregiver Lea Vaioleti.
A "Celebration of Life" is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sunday at Lanikai Beach near Kaiolena Drive. Casual dress. No flowers. Donations suggested to the American Cancer Society.