Mary Alice Oliver

Published 2:29 pm Tuesday, February 18, 2025

BOWLING GREEN – Mary Alice Oliver, age 92 of Bowling Green, KY, passed away Saturday, February 15, 2025, at Hospice of Southern Kentucky. She was born July 19, 1932, in Warren Co., KY, to the late Thurmond Lee Oliver and the late Louise Hinton Oliver.

In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by a brother, Raymond Oliver.

Survivors include her sister, Barbara Ford; nephew, Eric Oliver; best friend of sixty-two years, Kay Dillon. Alice graduated from Bowling Green High School in 1950 where she was a band member and a cheerleader during her time there. After graduation, she attended Lindsey Wilson Junior College in Columbia, KY, where she obtained an Associates degree.

She then attended Scarritt College in Nashville, TN which included classes at Peabody Teachers College and Vanderbilt University and received her Bachelors and Masters. Later she attended Western Kentucky University and received her Rank 1. Alice was a Director of Christian Education at Scottsville Methodist Church for three years, and St. Francis Street Methodist Church in Mobile, AL for three years.

She then taught sixth grade at Richardsville Elementary in Warren County for thirty-four years. She was a staff member of Belmont Methodist Church in Nashville, TN as a Youth Center Supervisor. She served as the Supervisor of Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Summer Playground program for three years and Supervisor of Boulder, Colorado Parks and Recreation Summer Playground program for two years.

Alice was a Recreational Therapist at the Evansville, IN State Hospital while seeking a degree in Recreational Therapy at IU for one and a half years. After teaching school, she taught English to Japanese families living in Bowling Green. She worked with forty-two different families over twenty-two years. Alice was very active in the community and churches volunteering her time. She was the newsletter editor for Louisville Conference United Methodist Women for two years and a counselor for summer church camps and weekend retreats.

She organized and coached Richardsville girl’s softball teams for four years and sponsored Richardsville High School Cheerleaders for three years. Mary Alice initiated and organized activities to build bleachers, fencing, and lighting for the original Richardsville Ballfield along with a walking track for students and the community around the ballfield. She volunteered at and donated supplies to the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society.

Upon retiring she spent a lot of time reading historical novels and mysteries and writing. She wrote Teaching Experiences in the fifties and sixties which was published in 2013, and wrote Snapshot Vignettes, a set of short stories that haven’t been published.

Alice wrote magazine articles on Bowling Green history for SOKY HAPPENINGS magazine and spent hours at the Kentucky Museum doing research and hours doing interviews for articles. She also wrote articles for Kentucky Explorer Magazine.

Funeral services will be conducted on Friday, February 21, 2025, at 2:00 PM at the J.C. Kirby & Son Lovers Lane Chapel with burial to follow in Fairview Cemetery.

Visitation will begin at 12:00 noon until the time of service at 2:00 PM at the funeral home. Expressions of sympathy may be made to the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society.