Ms. Alice Irby

Dear Alice, I was lucky enough to marry one of your daughters. You raised Susan to be a responsible,loving, and caring individual. Very much one of your traits, always seeing the good in people.
I remember the first dinner in the Desert, I was to meet all of the family at once. You graciously greeted me and you and Ken offered a warm welcome. That evening I learned a lot from you from vitamins, fudge business with Susan, you being the first woman hospital administrators in Arrowhead, opening a garage doors business with Ed (your son in law), your active sport life playing golf at Mission Hills
Over the many years of knowing you, one thing stands out (other than numerous Vitamins you recommended) was you were always impeccably dressed wearing high heels. In fact, you and Ken graced the cover of a Indian Wells Life Magazine. You and Ken were the picture of "REAL STYLE"
You left something special with all of us ..your laughter, wittiness, kindness,caring and the inspiration to look at always the good in people and strong opinions of the world
I do miss our Sunday's dinners, we had most every week at Aria with you and the remembrance of not just one scoop of vanilla ice cream but insisting on TWO scoops sometimes with a little chocolate sauce with hot coffee and a straw.
Regretting only one thing...You convincing me to try the Liver and Onions "just try it" and that will be my last!

Alice Irby was ahead of her time. She didn’t need women’s lib to open doors for her, she opened the doors herself. If anyone remembers the 70’s commercial that targeted the women’s lib movement “she can bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan”, that was Alice, but she did it in high heels.

Alice was a working Mom with a high profile position. She ate Whole Foods before Whole Foods existed. She ate vitamins (lots of them) when women of her day ate bonbons. She worked out before Golds’s Gym and Equinox existed. She and her family’s health were paramount. The things she did must have worked because she and her husband Ken looked like movie stars and her girls were beautiful.

Alice was always at her best. She wore beautiful clothes and accessories. Her hair and makeup were always impeccable. She loved clothes, even when she was physically unable to go shopping, her love of fashion continued via catalog purchasing. I find it coincidental that Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy when Alice was no longer able to catalog shop.

Alice was Miss Anaheim many years ago. My memory of Alice is:

**Once Miss Anaheim, always Miss Anaheim!

Love, Linda

It's funny to hear the stories that we all remember when staying at Grandma's house. It seems like one thing stands out, Shocking! Who could forget that carpet and wallpaper! That carpet was endless entertainment for all of us and after we were done playing we would run to the kitchen for some tootsie roll pops because she always had a container full. I will always cherish those memories and days spent at grandmas. She was an amazing woman who created amazing women and it just keeps going! I know you will always be watching over us and I hope you can give Grandpa a big hug for me. We all love you and thank you for helping create this amazing family. Love you all!

Grandma, thank you for all the wonderful memories. I can remember staying at her house two weeks every summer when my brother & I were younger, we would enjoy breakfast together & she would let my us swim all day (since it was so hot!). We would eat some of her grapefruits and she also grew strawberries. We would always try to her cats to like us & like Jason said we would all try and shock each other because of the amazing yellow carpet. I will always remember Grandma for her fashion sense, always dressed to impress and always always in heels no matter what. She was beautiful & we sure do miss her. We are happy she gets to rest with our Grandpa and look over all her kids, grandkids & great grand babies. We love you!

My Mom was a renaissance woman!
Women today can take a page out of her book as she was before her time. When women stayed at home, she worked and loved it so much, she worked into her 80's.
She became the first woman to be the administrator at Mountains Community Hospital.
She had her children starting at age 30, almost unheard of at the time.
She exercised, ran around the block, took vitamins (100 a day...no lie) and made her own yogurt. Of course all of that was soooo embarrassing to a teenager, yet now I see her as a force to be reckoned with.
When she moved due to my Dad's retirement, she got her real estate license, bought into a fudge making shop and then bought into a garage door company. Unbelievable...unbelievably proud to be her daughter.

Grandma was an amazing person. She was always kind to me and my siblings. I can remember all the Christmases we spent at her house on her bright yellow carpet with her aluminum foil wall paper. I would run around the house and shock my brother and sisters any chance I got until i accidently touched the wall and shocked myself! I remember when she took us in when we had the big fires and got evacuated and let us and all of our animals stay for several weeks! That's when Jasmine the cat attacked her because she pretended to be sweet and our Dog messed up here screen door!

Going to miss you Grandma! love you so much!