Alice Mae Davidson

Alice Mae Davidson

Cedar Rapids

Alice Mae Davidson, 90, of Cedar Rapids went to her heavenly home peacefully on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy. Services: 11 a.m. Monday, November 24 at Faith Presbyterian Church, 715 38th Street, Cedar Rapids, by Rev. Dennis Morey. Burial: 2 p.m. on Monday at Oakland Cemetery, Manchester, Iowa. Friends may visit with the family at the church from 10 to 11 a.m. Teahen Funeral Home is assisting the family.

Alice is survived by her son, Richard Davidson (Mark Sorenson) of Davenport; daughter Dee Ann (James) Van Hoeck of Cordova, TN; grandsons Ryan (Lindsey) Van Hoeck, Hernando, MS; Kyle (Emily) Van Hoeck of Austin, TX; great-grandsons Ford and Wesley Van Hoeck, Hernando, MS; and brother E. Michael Carr of Manchester. She was preceded in death by her husband, James M. Davidson in 2023 and her parents.

Alice was born on October 21, 1935 in Dubuque, the daughter of Hubert and Iola Carr. She grew up in Manchester and graduated from Manchester High School in 1953. She attended Iowa State University, graduating in 1957 with a degree in home economics and English. She married James M. Davidson on June 23, 1957 in Manchester. Alice taught Home Economics and English in Newhall for two years before her children were born. She was especially proud of creating a mini-library for her students in her classroom with rotating books she borrowed from the Cedar Rapids public library because Newhall did not have a library. In 1959, Alice and Jim moved to Cedar Rapids and lived on Terrace Hill Drive for the next 65 years. In addition to being a homemaker, Alice taught sewing classes at the Cedar Rapids YWCA. Later, after her children were grown, she took a job at the Tastee Freez. Looking for more interesting work, she took a class on women reentering the workforce and learned of an opening for the Coe College Sports Information Director. Being a sports lover, she took the job and worked as the Coe SID for the next 17 years, traveling the Midwest to all Coe football games, home and away, and many other sports events, with Jim driving the car.

Alice enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her grandsons who called her “Ish”. Alice loved her many different hobbies, sewing clothes for herself and Dee Ann, and dragging Dick to the fabric shop against his will, as recently as last month. Quilting took over as her main hobby in recent years, producing numerous quilts each year on her hopelessly complex computerized sewing machines. She was the featured quilter at the Quilters Guild show at Hawkeye Downs in 2011, winning several ribbons. Over her long life, Alice organized a neighborhood craft club, served as the first woman president of the Kennedy High School booster club, wrote the church newsletter and served as a church elder. Alice organized the church sewing group and played in the bell choir. In her spare time she enjoyed reading, especially ripsnorters involving heinous criminal acts. Later in life, Alice bought a Bichon Frise puppy, Fluffy, who provided happiness for 15 years. After Jim died, she moved to Grand Living in Cedar Rapids and to her great surprise actually enjoyed the activities and her many wonderful new friends. Alice liked to speak her mind, leading Jim to frequently reply he was “wrong again”. Apparently that worked for them, because she and Jim were married for 66 years. She was wonderful, kind and loving mother to Dick and Dee Ann. During the 1960s and 1970s, the family took many car trips throughout the country, with Alice reading books aloud and playing games to pass the time. She and Jim loved traveling to Memphis frequently to visit Dee Ann’s family. Recently, her entire extended family gathered over Labor Day weekend in Cedar Rapids to celebrate her 90th birthday.

Alice was a member of Faith Presbyterian Church and P.E.O.

Memorials may be made to Faith Presbyterian Church or a charity of your choice. Her family thanks the staff at Grand Living and her caregivers at Mercy Medical Center and Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy for their kindness and excellent care.