Longtime University NOW Day Nursery teacher Alice Perry Strong dies at 79
Alice Perry Strong of Plainsboro, died March 12 at Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro. She was 79.
Born in Princeton in 1945 to Paul Keely Perry and Ruth Grandison Perry, Alice graduated from Princeton High School. Her memories of high school included cramming teenagers into a Volkswagen Bug so everyone could go to White Castle and sneaking into Princeton University eating clubs to dance to songs like the Contours’ “Do You Love Me.”
After high school, she attended Boston University, where she received a degree in early childhood education.
In addition to shorter stints at several other preschools, she taught for decades at University NOW Day Nursery in Princeton, which caters to the families of Princeton University faculty.
Alice delighted in working with two-year-olds and was adamant about the importance of play and discovery in the development of young minds. Through the decades, she was a warm and supportive presence in hundreds of children’s lives.
Alice married Steven Brian Johnson in 1977. The two lived in Kingston until his death in 1982.
In 1985, she married Edward “Ned” Strong. They moved to Roseto, Pa., where she grew flowers like tiger lilies and geraniums and focused on raising the couple’s young son, Teddy. She loved to pick fruit and make jam, and to sing to her son as she worked.
After she and her husband divorced, Alice returned to Princeton, where she helped care for her father. In her spare time, she loved scouring antique stands, country auctions, flea markets and yard sales for pieces to resell or to decorate her home.
After her father’s 2005 death, she moved to Plainsboro, where she lived in the Highlands at Cranbury Brook. There she made a number of close friends, grew still more flowers, watched and read many mysteries, and experimented with recipes, especially for soup. She also delighted in the companionship of a succession of pampered cats.
Though it was March, her geraniums were in bloom when she died.
In addition to her first husband, Alice was predeceased by a sister, Ruthmarie Perry Thomas of West Windsor, and a brother, Paul Grandison Perry of New York.
Alice is survived by her son, Theodore Grandison Strong, who lives in Durham, N.C., with his wife, Alexandria; her brother, Mark Williams Perry, who lives in Charlottesville, Va., with his wife, Mary Lou; and her ex-husband, Edward “Ned” Strong, who lives in Mount Airy, N.C.; as well as many beloved nieces and nephews.
Arrangements are being handled by Kimble Funeral Home, 1 Hamilton Ave., Princeton. Visitation will take place Saturday, March 22 at 1 p.m., with a service to follow at 2 p.m.
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I knew Alice for a very long time and taught with her in two different classes at UNOW. Alice was a wonderfully creative teacher. She loved to sing, had a lovely voice and would make up all kinds of songs for the children in her care. She was also patient and loving and very, very intelligent. Alice would often use words that I had never heard of before, and I would ask her what they meant. She understood young children intuitively and could instinctively know how to address an issue and be able to quickly understand something a particular child needed. She would compassionately follow through on providing that child with comfort and words of understanding. She also had a great sense of humor. I will miss her terribly.
My Dear Alice
I will always miss you
I loved visiting you at your
Home.
Alice. Im really going to miss u.
We always talked on the phone and loved to see u when I visited you at the cranberry apts
Love u always
Lorraine