Obituary of Alice Elizabeth Campbell

Alice Elizabeth (Cowan) Campbell was born in Houston, Texas to Paul and Dorothy Cowan only six minutes after her twin sister Kathy.  Dot had been presumed by her doctor to be eating too much or having her dates wrong as she had gained so much weight but he had said she was eating too much or the Houston water was too salty or she was just having a large baby like her older sisters. But when the baby was delivered, the doctor said “oops, there is another one in here”.  The girls slept crossways in a single crib for several months.  They had a typical 1950s early childhood. Daddy worked at the papermill and Mama was a full time mom. For a while we thought most families had twins as Mama was a member of the Mothers of Twins Club but we learned otherwise. We attended nursery school and then the Beidler Academy for Small Fry for kindergarten.  Mama said we taught ourselves to read before first grade which we started in Monroe, LA after a move.  We sang in the Cherub Choir there and then in 1966 moved back to Houston where the local elementary school wanted to put us back a year despite straight As saying Louisiana schools were behind.  Mama pitched a fit, the school agreed to put us in 5th grade, we made straight As and never looked back.  We enjoyed school and read tons of books, were again in choir and Girl Scouts eventually achieving the highest possible rank in Scouts at the time. We learned to camp and build fires and during the years in the district wide backpacking group, Alice and Kathy were known for their elaborate meals.  Alice was the independent one who chose to leave Houston to attend MIT to get a BS and Masters in Chemical Engineering in 1983.  She then moved to Minneapolis, MN to work for Pillsbury research and then a couple of years later shifted to General Mills on a hydroponics project.  Three years later after determining that engineering research wasn’t the right fit, she went to work for First Bank as a loan officer and then about 1993 she found her perfect job as a business analyst at GrayPlantMoody LLC.  She had found her niche where she felt appreciated and useful and stayed until she had to retire medically.  Her boss JC Anderson was always kind and she had many wonderful coworkers. 

Alice met John C.W. Campbell, Jr. in the Minneapolis Rowing Club and they married Sept. 17, 1983. They attended Westminster Presbyterian Church where Alice spent 40 yrs in the choir.  Their wedding ended with processing out of the church under crossed rowing oars.  They did not have children, but were happy with their fur babies - Max, a Lhasa Apso with an attitude and Dobbie, a doxie-pin who is now living out her life at the Home for Life Animal Sanctuary. 

Alice was first diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer in 1997, had typical treatment but 7 years later had a second breast cancer that was stage 2 and required mastectomy, chemo and reconstruction.  She was well supported by her work friends who already were in a group making hats for chemo heads and by her choir friends who signed up to sit with her after surgery so she wouldn’t feel scared.  She stayed pretty healthy until 2014 when she was found to have stage 4 disease with lung metastases. Alice told her oncologist she intended to make it to her 50 yr MIT reunion at age 72 though he had clearly said the average life expectancy was 3-5 yrs.  She didn’t make it to that, but she did manage 7 yrs.

Alice is survived by her husband John Campbell and her furbaby Dobbie. She is survived in Houston by her twin sister Kathy Cowan, MD, her husband Larry Blake, their son Robbie Blake, daughter Lindsay Blake Bruehl and her husband Jake and their children Kimberlyn and Blake Bruehl.  She treasured her conversations with cousins Sarah Smith and Karen Stevens. 

Alice’s service is at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis on Saturday, June 26 at 2 pm with a small reception after.  In lieu of flowers, she had specified that donations in her memory go to either MIT women’s rowing /crew team. Contact Bonny Kellermann.  Memorial Gifts Office, 617-253-9722 or memorial-gifts-office@mit.edu

OR to the Adult Choir at Westminster Presbyterian Church  https://www.westminstermpls.org/stewardship/stewardship/memorialgifts/