Alice Bresnahan, age 93, of La Grange, passed away peacefully at home in her favorite chair on Christmas morning, Dec. 25, 2023.

Alice was a Chicago girl, born and bred in Portage Park on Oct. 1, 1930, during the Depression. The only daughter of four children, she was doted on by her dad, a banker, and cherished by her mom, a homemaker. Her dad started her on her lifelong passion for the Cubs by taking her to games on Wednesday afternoons. Her brothers were her heroes, especially the older two, who went off to active duty in WWII before she finished grade school and didn’t return until she was well into high school.

Alice attended grade school at Ole A. Thorp in the Portage Park neighborhood and high school at Carl Schurz in the Irving Park neighborhood. Throughout school, she was surrounded by friends and family, especially enjoying time with her cousins Cathy and Dave Cleven at their family enclave in Whitewater. Alice graduated from Schurz in 1948 and followed her big brother Wally to college at the University of Illinois, first at its extension campus at Galesburg for freshman year, and then on to the Champaign-Urbana campus to study social work.

It was an exciting time to be on campus, as so many war vets were also in attendance, and it wasn’t long during sophomore year before the pretty, spirited co-ed and a handsome vet caught each other’s eyes in Lincoln Residence Hall where she bunked with her two roommates, Joan and Jean. The vet, Bob McDowell, became her sweetheart, but soon they were separated when he was shipped off to serve again, this time to the Philippines for a year during the Korean conflict.

When he returned in 1951, the two were finally married. They worked on his finishing school and the two of them starting a family. His engineering degree took them all over the Midwest, and seven children followed in rapid succession, only two of whom were born in the same town. The family finally settled in LaGrange in 1965.

After 21 years of marriage, the two divorced, and Alice, now a single mom, got a job at LaGrange State Bank, working in document inspection and then the proof department for the next 21 years until her retirement in 1994. Alice had remarried in 1978 and was widowed in 1985.

She spent her retirement years doing all the things she loved most: being a gramma to her 15 grandchildren; volunteering at the LaGrange Area Historical Society where she especially enjoyed filing news clips on historical homes in the village; actively participating in the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, where she loved hearing speakers, registering new voters at election time and as a feminist, promoting the Equal Rights Amendment; traveling to Boston to see her brother Wally and family and venturing to Europe several times. She spent her 80^th birthday in Angers, France, visiting her youngest son, Paul, and family.

A talented seamstress, her lifelong creative outlet was sewing. Her other lifelong commitment to the Chicago Cubs made for a highly satisfying season in 2016 when the team won the World Series.

In her later years, she kept up regularly with political news as a concerned citizen and loved to read biographies and novels, in particular, thrillers by Swedish authors. E-mail and then social media were a boon to this tech-savvy lady, who not only stayed in touch on Facebook with her children, grandchildren and cousins, nieces and nephews, but also co-founded a family historical page online with her cousins and her niece Mary Ann.

Alice was the beloved wife of the late Ed Bresnahan.

She was the loving mother of Laurie Erdmann (Art), the late Katie Kavanaugh (Ed, also deceased), Beth Jedlicka (Tom), Pete McDowell, Patrick McDowell (Brenda), Cindy Abrahamson (Jim), and Paul McDowell (Rosie). She was also step-mother to Sandy Kelps (Bob).

She was the cherished grandmother of Jason, Adam (Tiffany) and Derek Erdmann; Amanda Carter (Jason) and Joe Czapski (Kristin); Kristin Jedlicka (Ryan), Susie Shive (Matt); Mary Jedlicka (Paul); Mark McDowell; Emmett and Laura McDowell; Jamie and Charlie Abrahamson; Maggie and Paulie McDowell.

She was also the delighted great-gramma to Abbey, Emma, Tommy, Johnny, Mary, Janna and Rosalie Kate.

Alice was preceded in death by her husband Ed; her beloved parents, Amanda and Peter, her brothers Harvey, Wally and Bobby and their wives LaVergne, Carol and Nanceé; her former husband, Bob, and former in-laws, Quentin McDowell and June Bader and their spouses, Marie and Max. She was also preceded in death by her grandchildren Sarah McDowell and Trevor Abrahamson, her nephew, Kern Cleven, and most recently, her first niece, Mary Ann Cleven Owens.

A memorial visitation will take place on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, from 2-5 p.m. with a brief service at 5 p.m. at Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55^th St., Countryside. Interment will take place privately.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the LaGrange Area Historical Society, 444 South LaGrange Rd., LaGrange, IL 60525, or to the League of Women Voters online.

Thank you for being part of Alice’s life.