Alice Jean Dibble (nee Sargent), 85, of Coventry, CT, beloved wife of the late Richard (Dick) Dibble, passed away peacefully at home on Thursday March 14th. Born in Gloucester, MA on July 26, 1933 to Herbert K.P. Sargent of Gloucester and Jean Araminta Trenholm of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Alice lived in Gloucester until the age of 4, when she moved to Manchester, CT until her marriage in 1952. She and Dick then bought a home on Coventry Lake where they raised their 5 daughters. A 1951 graduate of Manchester High School, Alice had many talents, interests and accomplishments including teaching and playing piano, amateur ham radio operator, painting landscapes and abstracts and, years ago, piloting her private plane. On her 16th birthday, Alice earned her private pilot’s license - the youngest person in New England to do so - and was gifted a plane by her parents, which she named “Wonderland.” She housed the plane at Brainard airport, where she met fly-boy Dick who also kept his private plane at Brainard. They had the same flying instructor and Alice later recalled how he told her that, “Dick is sweet on you, ya know.” The rest, as they say, is history!

Prior to marrying, Alice served as a lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol. She would later say how she was amused by being addressed as “Lieutenant Sargent.” Alice was a member of the DAR and was briefly employed by The Travelers Insurance Company. Alice absolutely adored alliteration and, amazingly, always applied it aptly. Alice was a voracious reader, an avid Red Sox fan, an admirer of the colors mauve and lavender, was fascinated by the weather, enamored with cats and dogs of which she had many throughout the years, and loved her African Grey parrot, Fluffy. But it was her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren that were her greatest joy and she spoke of them often and kept up on their lives, if not always directly, then with the help of her daughters through Facebook and texting.

After Dick’s retirement as a teacher in 1989, Alice & Dick became snowbirds, traveling down to the Florida Keys every winter where they stayed in their converted pink school bus. This was the second pink school bus for them, the first one having received much use when their girls were younger and the family would enjoy traveling and camping, visiting 24 states and Canada.

Besides her parents, Alice was predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Richard (Dick) Dibble and her second daughter, Laurie-Ann Sarah Siff of Sarasota, FL. Alice leaves her daughters: Bonnie DeWitt and her husband Gary of Ellensburg, WA; Teri Lee Wedderspoon and her husband David of Suffield, CT; Sheri Shvonski and her husband Michael of Coventry, CT; and Holly Dibble and her husband Ken Riopel of Port Orange, FL. She leaves 7 grandchildren: Adam Berent and his wife Sarah of Napa, CA; Nathan Berent of New Albany, IN; Justin Berent of Atlanta, GA; Benjamin Siff of Sarasota, FL; Rebecca (Siff) Saiger and her husband Dustin of Sarasota, FL; Alexander Shvonski and his wife Allie of Medford, MA; Benjamin Shvonski and his partner Michelle Morin of Coventry, CT; and 4 great grandchildren: Andrea Berent, Autumn Rose Berent, Annalise Shvonski, and Sterling Saiger. Alice also leaves her brother, Herbert K. Sargent and his wife Angela of Hebron, CT; nephew Scott Sargent and his wife Jen of Hebron, CT; niece Tudy (Amy) Wininger of Old Lyme, CT; nephew James Hock of Rocky Hill, CT; cousin Lucy Carnes of Utah (formerly of Gloucester, MA); cousin Margie Jewell of Gloucester, MA as well as many other extended family and loving friends, especially her “second set of kids” the Pelletiers: Don, Denise, Sue, John and David.

Relatives and friends may join the family on Saturday, March 23, 2019 at the Tolland Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Merrow Road (Rt. 195), Tolland from 10-11 AM. A memorial service will be held at 11AM with burial to follow at Fairview Cemetery, West Hartford. For online condolences, please visit www.pietrasfuneralhome.com