Alice Frances Thavis (Murphy)

About Alice

Alice Thavis, 94, a former resident and teacher in the Mankato area, died peacefully Sept. 7, 2021, at New Perspective Senior Living in Highland Park, St. Paul. A private service and funeral is planned for Woodland Hills Memorial Park in Mankato, MN.

She will be remembered lovingly by all who knew her, for her kindness, intelligence and love of life.

Alice Frances Murphy was born on July 2, 1927, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, to Alice and John Murphy. She grew up with her three brothers, ice skating in the winter in Boston and spending summers at the family cottage on Cape Cod, where cousins came to visit. Her dad took her to the World Fair in New York in 1939, a trip she always remembered.

During World War II, Alice and her younger brother Bob saved tin foil and used fat from cooking, donating it toward the war effort, and they drew blackout blinds at night because Boston was a coastal city. When the war ended in 1945, Alice was starting college at Framingham State near Boston, to study dietetics. That fall her brother Joe brought home a Navy friend, Richard Thavis, and a lengthy courtship led to marriage on June 25, 1949, shortly after her college graduation. They left Boston soon afterward for a life in the Mankato area.

Alice taught high school English and Home Economics in Nicollet, commuting from Mankato. Later, she taught at Mapleton High School, where they lived for three years before returning to Mankato, where she taught at the Mankato Commercial College. She loved teaching and she loved her students, and as they sometimes reminded her, she never completely lost her Boston accent. Along the way, the couple’s three children arrived and were duly raised.

Alice was a great socializer, and enjoyed the company of the couple’s many Mankato friends, at dances, parties and community events. Alice and Richard were longtime members of the Catholic parishes of Saints Peter and Paul in Mankato and later the parish of Holy Rosary in North Mankato. In later years, she and her husband traveled extensively, vacationing with friends in Florida and making several trips to Italy and other European countries. She loved to shop, especially for others, and found bargains across the globe, from Brett’s to the Florence flea market.

In 2016 the couple moved to the New Perspective assisted living residence in St. Paul. At New Perspective, her smile was contagious and she brought happiness to those around her. When her husband passed away in 2020, they had celebrated 71 years of marriage.

Alice is survived by her three children, John M. Thavis of St. Paul, MN, Susan (Gary) Roberts of Laporte, MN, and Robert (Juliann Geis) Thavis of Mendota Heights, MN; by grandchildren Andrew Roberts, Hilary Thavis, Brian Thavis, Alan Thavis, Christina Thavis and Rebecca Thavis; by great-granddaughter Kiah (Roberts) White; and by several nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her spouse and by brothers John F. Murphy, Joseph G. Murphy and Robert A. Murphy.

memorial service

Funeral/Cremation Provider: Crescent Tide Cremation Services