Alice LaRosa

1923 - 2025

Alice LaRosa

March 28, 1923 - June 8, 2025

Andover, Kansas - Alice Terpstra LaRosa died on Sunday, June 8, 2025, at age 102. Alice was the wife of the late Jesse LaRosa. She is the mother of Joanne Barclay (Andrew), Jessica LaRosa (Stephen), and John LaRosa (Deborah). She is the grandmother to Andy, Alex, Elizabeth, David, and Emily Barclay and John Shaw and great-grandmother to Leah and Alton with another great-granddaughter on the way. She is the sister to her surviving brother Albert. She was preceded in death by her parents, half-sisters Alma Kingma Terpstra (Carl), Elizabeth Kingma Van Rees (Clarence), half-brother George Terpstra (Pauline), brother Arnold Terpstra (Ruth), and brother John Terpstra (Sylviana). Alice was born March 28, 1923 on a farm 2 miles Northeast of Lynnville, Iowa to Wietske Visser Kingma and Arie Terpstra, both of The Netherlands. Alice attended rural Lynnville public schools and graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa paid for by grass seed from her father's business, Lynnville Seed Company. Mrs. LaRosa was a public school teacher in Iowa and Missouri for 40 years before moving to Kansas. She was a life-long activist for the Democratic Party, belonged to the National Education Association, and was a crusader for the Equal Rights Amendment. She helped countless people obtain their G.E.D.'s and was a tireless volunteer for the Special Olympics. In 1939, Alice was named to Iowa High School All-State Girls' Basketball Team and in 1970, she was named to the Iowa Girls' Basketball Hall of Fame. Alice strived to be of use.