Alice Audrey Ness, née Gasser
Lodi--Alice Audrey Ness, née Gasser, died December 3rd after a long sunset sojourn with dementia.
Alice was born to Audrey Gasser, née Attoe, and Alvin Gasser on March 15, 1938, the second of two siblings. She was raised, and lived nearly all her life, on her family’s Westpoint Township Farm below Garden Bluff Cemetery. Alice attended the one-room Gibraltar School through 8th grade and was part of the last class to attend this beloved township school. She was a member of the “West Point Willing Workers 4-H Club” through which she prepared and exhibited beef cattle for close to a decade and had numerous prize-winning steers at the Lodi Union Fair, the Wisconsin Live Stock Exhibition, and the International Live Stock Exhibition at Union Stock Yards in Chicago.
Alice was confirmed and became a member of the West Point Methodist Church in 1951 before joining the 1952 Freshmen Class at Lodi High School. In high school Alice played the saxophone, participated in the school play, and was part of the Homecoming and Prom Courts. Alice graduated from Lodi High School in 1956. She then attended and completed the Practical Nursing Course at the Madison Vocational and Adult School in Madison. She graduated from this program in 1957 and passed the Wisconsin State Board of Nursing in January of 1958. Thereafter she began work as an LPN at the Sauk Prairie Hospital.
Alice became engaged to Dale Royal Ness after he returned from his tour of duty on tank patrol on the East German border in 1957. They married at the Lodi Methodist Church in August of 1958 and thereafter settled on the Gasser Brother’s Family Farmstead in Westpoint Township. They built a small house next to the main farmhouse, where they raised their family of three children, Brenda (1960), Scott (1963), and Kerrie (1969).
Alice was fiercely devoted to her family and dedicated her days to giving them her best. She was also a partner with Dale on the farm where she took charge of the chickens, and collected and sold eggs, and planted a large garden, as well as helping with a wide range of farm tasks, from “running for parts,” to feeding calves, and farrowing pigs. Her mother, Audrey, died suddenly of leukemia in 1962. Thereafter, Alice began life-long care duties for her father, Alvin, who moved in with them to their very small house. He lived there with Alice and Dale for nearly a decade until their growing family led to a move for Alvin to the Wilson Farm “down the road” where Alice continued to oversee his care until his death in 1983. Life on the farm during these years was always full and bustling, with much to do. It wasn’t until some years later that Alice found time for some leisure pursuits that included sewing, quilting, and participating in her beloved Lodi Women’s Golf League and Lodi Crew Exercise Classes. She and Dale were also devoted members of the Lodi Evangelical Free Church where Alice joined in with Christian Women’s Club gatherings to which she looked forward. In addition, Alice spent many happy years working at Slack’s Jams and Jellies a family business run by her dear cousin, Ethel, and son, Mark, and daughter, Jacki.
Vacations away from the farm were few, but together Alice and Dale took, and treasured, going “up North” for a few weeks every year with their family. In later years, Dale and Alice built a cabin “up North” as a getaway. They sold this cabin to family, and next built a house in Lodi, and made a move “to town.” Alice enjoyed the new house they built in town with grandkids Tyler, Ben, and Alex just up the street, and grandkids, Mai Ling, Zhu Lan, and Levi, coming by frequently as well, especially right after school, for grandma’s cookies, and the large, always filled to the brim, candy bowl. Alice and Dale enjoyed their final years “living in town,” taking, however, frequent (daily) trips back out to the farm to “check on Scott,” and for rides and walks through Garden Bluff Cemetery. Dale and Alice also took some memorable trips during these later years to the National Parks of the SW with Dale’s brother Bobby and his wife, Dolores Ness, train trips across the U.S. as well as trips to Branson, Florida, Hawaii, Texas, Arizona, and Alaska. Dale, and Alice, however, most enjoyed, were proud of, and loved their dearest grandchildren. They cherished their time with the grandkids and especially relished the “front row seat” their house in town gave them to cheer the grandkids on in their many sporting events, plays, concerts, and other activities.
Alice is survived by, daughter, Kerrie (Jeff) Rashid; son, Scott (Heidi) Ness; and daughter, Brenda Ness; and grandchildren Tyler Rashid, Ben Rashid, Alex Rashid, Mai Ling Ness, Zhu Lan Ness, and Levi Ness. She is further survived by dear childhood cousins, and friends, Velma Marquardt and Janet Wade, and many beloved members of the large “Ness clan,” whose spirited gatherings were eagerly awaited yearly highlights. Surviving Ness family members include sisters-in-law Darlene Brisky, Judy Ness, and Audrey (Dave) Attoe, and brothers-in-law, Charlie, Richard/Tack (Connie) Ness, and Don (Jean) Ness and many nieces and nephews. Alice was preceded in death by her beloved husband of sixty-four years, Dale Royal Ness, her parents Audrey Gasser née Attoe and Alvin Gasser, and brother, Donald Gasser, dear cousin, Sherrill Meyer, and sisters-in-law Dolores Ness, Donna Ripp, Ardis Achterberg, Joyce Lochner, and brothers-in-law Robert, Thomas, and Jim Ness, Robert Brisky, Ray Lochner, George Ripp, and Leon Achterberg.
The family would like to extend a HUGE and HEARTFELT thanks to Pine Villa’s caring staff, and for the compassionate care Alice received in her final days with Agrace Hospice and the guidance and care of her Agrace Hospice Nurse, Kevin, and CNA, Mary.
To honor Alice and Dale’s life and hard work as farmers and their love for their family, Alice’s children have placed a memorial bench in their honor on Garden Bluff Cemetery; a place that was much loved by both Dale and Alice, and which overlooks the lands that they farmed for over fifty years. The inscriptions on their bench read, “Dale and Alice Ness loved this place. Their return to rest here is a homecoming to the land they loved and farmed for over 50 years. Their legacy of hard work, love of family, and service to country will continue to inspire us.” And, “In Loving Memory of Dale and Alice Ness, ‘Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its moods, secrets, and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers…saying ‘I am here You are a part of me’” B. Logan, The Land Remembers.
A private family burial will take place at a later date on Garden Bluff Cemetery. If donations wish to be made in Alice’s honor, Reach Out Lodi, The Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, or Agrace Hospice are suggested.
For more information and online condolences please visit www.gundersonfh.com
Gunderson Lodi
Funeral & Cremation Care
157 S. Main St.
(608) 592-3201
