Alice P. Tierney

Some people see "living life" as traveling, going to fancy restaurants or attending sporting events. Alice lived life by connecting with the people around her.
Alice was born on January 22, 1949, the daughter of the late John Lipinski Sr. and the late Gloria (Brooks) Lipinski of Danvers. She grew up the oldest of four, helping to raise her 3 younger brothers on the family farm with her pony, Goldie.
After raising her brothers, she raised two boys single-handedly, working as many as four jobs at a time, and dragging those boys to every one of them.
A lifelong resident of the North Shore, Alice became a pillar of her community in Middleton. She proudly served in the local school district for 25+ years, starting in the cafeteria, then as a bus driver before running the main offices of both Howe-Manning School and Masconomet Regional High School. It was in those offices where her talent for social connection was on display.
Before there was social media, Alice knew everyone's birthdays, everyone's siblings and everyone's children and everyone's children's children and had birthday cards for them all. For those whom she knew well, she acted as a caretaker, provider, and a second Mom.
She would help run errands, provide nursing care, or buy you those dozen lavender candles from the Christmas Tree Shops that you said you liked and, "they were on sale." However, if you were truly loved (or provided sweet tire discounts), you were a recipient of those amazing brownies or her famous Christmas cornflake wreaths.
Alice passed away peacefully at home on September 10th with her boys at her side, after an 18+ year long fight with numerous cancers. Having battled and beaten both melanoma and multiple myeloma, she had developed myelodysplastic syndrome.
While undergoing treatment, she, for once, thought of herself first and made the decision to go out on her own terms. Her two decades of pure will had already earned herself the opportunities to see both of her children get married, the help to raise four beautiful grandchildren and nurse her beloved Aunt Norma. Final score Alice 2, Cancer 1.
She is survived by her absolute treasures in life, her four grandchildren, for all of whom she is eternally proud. Harlowe (11) and Charli (7) Tierney of Brooklyn, NY and Ajay (6) and Priyanka (3) Tierney of Beverly, MA. She entrusts her family legacy to her eldest son and daughter in-law Justin and Tracey Tierney of Brooklyn, NY and her younger son and daughter in-law Jason and Laxmi Tierney of Beverly, her niece Emma Lipinski and her sister in-law Nancy Lipinski of South Hadley, MA, her dearest friends Frances and Philip Webb of Haverhill, Susan and Victor Skop of Magnolia, and her two granddogs Emmett and Clementine.
She is truly survived by everyone reading this - her friends in her community. Whether from school, from her children's lives, the Garden Club, the Popover Club, or from volunteering at the Flint Public Library and at the Middleton Council on Aging or you were her favorite waitstaff at Sylvan Street Grill, she knew you, she is always thinking of you and she loves you all.
A visitation to celebrate Alice's life will occur from 3pm to 6pm on Friday, September 16th at C.R. Lyons & Sons Funeral Directors, 28 Elm St., Danvers Square. In lieu of flowers or gifts, please kindly make a donation to Kaplan House c/o Care Dimensions, 75 Sylvan Street, Danvers, MA 01923 or Northeast Animal Shelter, 347 Highland Ave., Salem, MA 01970. Additionally, we encourage you to live your life a little more like Alice would, by doing something thoughtful for someone else. Hug someone you love, reach out to a friend or loved one who you haven't spoken to in a while, wish someone a happy birthday or say hi to a stranger and introduce yourself.
Our family would like to capture memories of Alice to be passed down. Please send along any stories, photos and memories you have of her to alicetierneystories@gmail.com.