Alice deBerry Brook

Alice deBerry Brook

Kerrville

Alice deBerry Brook of Ingram, Texas, died on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015.

She was born Oct. 29, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Erica Thorp deBerry of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and to Dr. Ellett M. deBerry, originally from San Angelo, Texas. Alice's parents met in Boston while working at the New England Home for Little Wanderers, helping troubled youth. Dr. deBerry took a position as staff psychiatrist at the University of Minnesota, and lived with his family first in Minneapolis and then in St. Paul. From 1937-38, the deBerrys, with four children, Anne, Alice, Joseph and Guy, spent Dr. deBerry's sabbatical leave in Gstaad, Switzerland. In 1939, Dr. deBerry gave up his practice to move his family to Texas, where he purchased a ranch near Sonora. Alice attended Sonora High School and spent her senior year at the Hockaday School in Dallas. She attended Radcliffe College, studying history and modern dance.

After graduating in 1950, Alice returned to Sonora and San Angelo, then traveled to Florence, Italy, where she worked as a special assistant and translator for the Rapisardi family. Later she moved to New York, where she was assistant to Carlos Moseley, president and managing director of the New York Philharmonic and where she met her husband, Paige Brook, flutist with the orchestra from 1955-1990. From their marriage in 1969 until 1990, Alice and Paige lived in Dumont, New Jersey, where Alice taught English as a Second Language and spent their summers on Greenings Island in Maine.

On Paige's retirement, Alice returned with him to Texas, making a home in Ingram and playing an active role in the musical life of the community, most notably with her work on the board of directors of the Hill Country Youth Orchestra, her "musicale" concerts at her home and her support for area musicians and music students. Alice, a great-granddaughter of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was also active in the League of Women Voters and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Kerrville.

Alice was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Paige Brook; siblings Anne, Joseph and Guy deBerry; and stepson Mitchell Brook.

Survivors include nieces Erica Forbes of Kerrville, Texas, and Carolyn deBerry of Greensboro, North Carolina; and stepdaughters Nancy Shields of Columbia, Maryland, and Gail Bedell of Boone, North Carolina.

A memorial concert will be held in her honor at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, at First Presbyterian Church in Kerrville.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory at kerrvillefuneralhometx.com. Select "obituaries," then select "sign guestbook" at the top of the individual memorial.

Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of the professionals at Kerrville Funeral Home.