Alice Lewis Thurston

Our mother, Alice Lewis Thurston (1929-2025),  was a woman of faith, as summed up in a hymn she asked to be sung at her funeral: “All That Thrills My Soul Is Jesus.” It was obvious she loved and admired our Dad throughout their marriage of 63 years. She was proud of her children, and she loved it when friends would say what a wonderful family she had. She could laugh till she cried watching the Dean Martin Show. She loved living in Colorado and has been all over the state, taking in its many wonders.

Mother was born in the same month as the stock market crash that started the Great Depression (September 1929). She grew up in Columbus, Ohio with her parents and three siblings. 

After high school, she worked as a secretary in the Engineering Dept. of Ohio State University. She always enjoyed telling us the story of how her boss asked her which of three applicants he should choose for Masters degree work. She said the tall one, which was the young man who eventually became her husband (1951) and our Dad, Gaylen Thurston.

As a newlywed, Mother was not a great cook.  After one not too tasty meal, Dad went out and bought her a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  She then became a fantastic and fearless cook.  She loved to host large dinner parties with friends from the neighborhood and Denver University Faculty.  We often had friends from church for Sunday dinner. Mother and Dad always invited anyone who might not have a place to go for Thanksgiving Dinner to our table. We children especially enjoyed all the goodies at the annual open house held in our home before Christmas.

Mother was an artist.  She painted and did pottery.  In the sixties and seventies, she studied flower arranging and became a flower show judge, traveling all around the state to judge shows.  She and her friends, Nancy Wynne and Quincy Burton, were the founders of the Littleton Friends of the Library Arts and Crafts Fair which has continued for 53 years.  

But her real canvas was her home.  Her love of beauty was everywhere.  She had an eye for collecting and presentation.  Whenever any service people came to her home, from plumbers to health care workers to carpet cleaners, they told her what a beautiful home she had and would sit down with her for a minute to ask questions and admire her handiwork.  We are profoundly grateful that she was able to remain in her home her entire life.

Mother didn’t go to college, but she was a far more serious reader than most college graduates, often reading 100 books in a year.  Loving all things English, she read the novels of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and others. While she read detective books for fun, she would read biographies and historical works as well. 

As we were growing up, we went to church every Sunday with our parents. Sometime in middle age, Mother became an avid student of the Bible. For several years, she read through the entire Old and New Testaments annually. She was also a beloved teacher of Bible studies for women. When she eventually told them she was not going to continue, she was so respected by the group that they pleaded with her not to stop.

In her latter years, after Dad died (2014), our family would continue to gather at her home for birthdays, holidays and those times when her out of town children visited with their families. On such occasions, Mother’s backyard was the scene of much play and laughter among the four generations gathered.

She is survived by her brother, Bill Lewis, her five children, Viscount, Diane Melancon, Kevin, Drew, and Winslow, 15 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.

Alice Thurston’s memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 1609 W. Littleton Blvd., Littleton, Colorado. The service is scheduled for Saturday, June 14, 2025, 11:30 am, and it will be livestreamed.

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