Rev. Alice Hamilton Davies

BRUNSWICK -- The Rev. Alice Hamilton Davies, R.N., B.S., M.Div, A.P.C.. of Brunswick, and Twilight Park, Haines Falls, N.Y., died Tuesday, March 3, 2009, at Maine Medical Center.

Her husband of almost 62 years, Dr. Dean F. Davies, predeceased her on March 17, 2008. She is survived by her children, David Hamilton Davies of Wiscasset, Nancy Fletcher Davies of Northampton, Mass., Susan Davies and her husband, David Halliwell, of Clinton, and Beth (Davies) Young and her husband, Russell E.Young, of Chelsea. Her grandchildren, Christie, David, Caleb and Morgan Young and Stephanie (Young) Audet, and Benjamin and Briana Halliwell, will miss her deeply, as will the family of Don Le and his wife, Nga, and their sons, Van and Don. Don Le became a member of the Davies extended family in 1975, having been sponsored by Dean and Alice as a Vietnamese foster son. She is also survived by her brother and her sister-in-law, Herbert M. Hamilton, Jr. and Kay, of Marietta, Ga.

Alice's lifelong calling has been to faith and ethical issues in health and medical settings, advocacy for equal access to health care for all, and education in congregations about lay ministry and ministries of healing and pastoral care at the end of life. She will be remembered in the Bath-Brunswick area for her inspired and devoted service in the ministry as a United Church of Christ chaplain and pastor, having served as chaplain to the CHANS Hospice, on the board of Mid-Coast Volunteer Hospice, as minister for parish life at First Parish Church in Brunswick, as interim minister or supply minister at several other UCC churches, and as member and chairwoman of the Brunswick Area Interfaith Council.

Alice took an active role in the reorganization of the Pastoral Care Department at Mid-Coast Hospital and was a member of the Witness of Life Committee of the Maine UCC Conference. For six years Alice served the UCC National Entity as a member and vice president of its Health and Welfare Coordinating Council.

Alice H. Davies was born in Englewood, N.J., on March 18, 1921, to Esther and Herbert Mark Hamilton. She was awarded a bachelor of science degree from the School of Nursing, Columbia University, became a registered nurse, and served on the faculty of the School of Nursing shortly after graduation. She and Dean F. Davies were married on April 20, 1946, when he was a medical resident at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.

After working and raising young children in St Louis, Mo., and Tenafly, N.J., the Davies moved to Memphis, Tenn., just two years before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. While in Memphis, she received a bachelor of science degree in public health administration from the University of Memphis and worked as health director of the Memphis Head Start program. The city of Memphis recognized Alice for her founding and leadership role in organizing an interfaith and interracial volunteer service, the Johnson Auxiliary, for the City of Memphis Hospitals, which served the poor of Memphis who had been refused service at the other hospitals of the city. They trained 500 volunteers from 1971 to 1978 to "stand with the poor who are sick." The Auxiliary continues today, 33 years later, to serve.

Dean's work took them in 1978 back to New York City, where they became active members of the Riverside Church. Alice served as director of social service and coordinator of pastoral ministries for five years. Following a call to the ministry, she returned to school again in 1984 and earned a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1988. Upon completion of her seminary work, she began working as a full time chaplain, organizing a new department of pastoral care at Wayne General Hospital in New Jersey.

Her life is best described by her own view of the cross of Jesus Christ: "the upward shaft representing the believer's relationship to God through Christ, nourished and supported by prayer, mediation and study; the horizontal bar as one's connection with the world, motivated, energized, sustained and directed by the Holy Spirit." Her tireless energy, enthusiasm and encouragement to others was evidence to all who knew her that she was, indeed, compelled by a power not her own. Throughout her life, she dedicated herself to answering the call of Jesus in Matthew 25, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me." She said, "I believe that God works through persons and that I am bound to be a servant by love, gratitude, and a God-given push or pull toward human beings in need." Alice and Dean made their home in Maine in the summer of 1992 to be near their children and their grandchildren and to fulfill a lifetime longing to live near the ocean. They lived in Harpswell for the first 13 years, then moved to Brunswick in 2005.

Most of all, she will be remembered for her untiring spirit, offering the gift of herself, with undying love to her family, her friends and the greater community.

Services of remembrance and celebration will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 21, 2009, at First Parish Church, 9 Cleaveland St., Brunswick. Memorial donations may be made to Hospice Volunteers of Mid-Coast Maine, 45 Baribeau Drive, Brunswick, ME 04011; or to the Tedford Shelter, 49 Cumberland St., Brunswick, ME 04011.

Arrangements are under the direction of Brackett Funeral Home, 29 Federal Street, Brunswick. Condolences can be expressed at www.brackettfuneralhome.com