Alison Muschinsky

MIDDLETOWN - Alison White Muschinsky, 74, of Middletown, passed away peacefully after a valiant battle with cancer on Sunday, April 17, 2016, at Middlesex Hospital.

Alison was born in Meriden on Jan. 22, 1942, and grew up on the corner of Eaton and Johnson Avenues in a house owned by her parents, Carter H. White and Barbara C. White. She attended Meriden schools and graduated from Platt High in 1959. After graduation, Alison attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, attaining a bachelor of arts in English in 1963. While at Bates, she met and eventually married John Muschinsky, Jr., of East Lyme in 1964. Following her marriage, she moved and lived in a house built on her husband's family farmland and took an office position at a local insurance agency. Mrs. Muschinsky raised her two sons in East Lyme during the 1970s, and then chose to go back to work at her family's business, now the Record-Journal Publishing Co., in 1980.

Over the next decade Alison's responsibility at the newspaper grew in scope. She was named to the board of directors, and then she became the Human Resources Director in 1987. She actively worked at the company for 30 years and continued on as a part-time advisor and board member even following her retirement several years ago. Alison was well respected at the company, not only for her detailed knowledge of employment-related issues but also for her compassion towards employees and their needs.

Alison always valued education and volunteering. During the 1970s she donated time and effort to the annual PRISM arts project held at Connecticut College in New London and to East Lyme Little League Baseball. Alison got involved in the local PTA while her sons were in the East Lyme school system, and she eventually became president in the 1980s. She also served for many years on the board of directors of the Visiting Nurses Association in Meriden.

Among her favorite activities later in life were reading, story-telling and creative playtime which she shared with her granddaughter, Cora, over the past decade, as well as a love of all things culinary. Alison's warm hospitality and holiday meals were legendary among family and friends, and some guests would travel literally thousands of miles across the country to participate in her Thanksgiving weekend celebration each year. Her cooking, her humor, her generosity and her sound advice will all be impossible to replace.

Alison was predeceased by her sister, Leslie H. White; and by her husband of 43 years, John Muschinsky, Jr.

She leaves behind her brother, Eliot C. White and his wife, Sue White, of Berlin; niece Elizabeth White and her husband, Michael Notarangelo, of Meriden; nephew, Allan H. Church and his wife, Janine Waclawski, of Pound Ridge, N.Y.; son, Bodin Muschinsky and his fiancée, Danielle Salerno, of Portland, son, Evon Muschinsky and his wife, Sibley Muschinsky, of East Lyme; and her beloved granddaughter, Cora Muschinsky, also of East Lyme.

Her sons would like to thank the Middlesex Hospital CCU staff for the outstanding care offered to Alison in her final days.

A memorial will be held at the John J. Ferry Funeral Home, 88 E. Main St., Meriden, from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 22. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made directly to the MDS foundation at www.mds-foundation.org.