Alice Aileen Macdonald, born February 27, 1928 Philadelphia, PA, passed peacefully in her sleep on Friday, October 2, 2020 in her Laguna Woods home. Alice was lovingly known as "EZ-AL"to all of her friends and "Grammy" to her grandkids. Born to Colin and Alice Macdonald, she has one sibling Dian. Alice drove with her best friend to California in 1956. While walking up the stairs where she worked at Douglas Aircraft company she was followed by a man who said "must be jelly, cuz jam don't shake like that". After he agreed to apologize for his comment, she agreed to their first date. They drove from Santa Monica to Las Brisas in Laguna Beach. A two year courtship ensued and Wayne Wilford Roughen and Alice were married in the summer of 1960 and had three children.
She worked for Douglas Aircraft Company but soon found her calling raising children as a stay-home mom.Alice was widowed in 1992. She is survived by her daughter Deborah , son Doug and Daughter in law Dannaand son Duane and Daughter in law Jodi and grandchildren Alexia, Colton, Sydney and Avery.
My dad used to say that "strangers were just friends she hasn't met yet" She had a laid-back easy going personality that earned her the nickname "EZ-Al" In her 92 years on this earth she never had a bad word to say about anyone- she really loved people and loved to be around her family.
Alice was a deeply religious person and had a very special relationship with her faith. She rarely missed Sunday mass and one of the rules we had to abide by when living at home was attending Sunday Mass.
Alice had a passion for travel and was decades ahead of her time. In the summer of 1948 she went to New York and hopped on the RMS Queen Elizabeth and back-packed by herself through Europe. Alice was very proud of her Irish and Scottish heritage and was quick to tell stories of her youth. Some stories were even based on facts, but all of them were entertaining. Her children inherited her love for travel and accompanied her to 3 continents and 7 different countries including an African Safari.
Alice was very athletic and played tennis into her late 70's in the Hill and Harbor league through Mesa Verde Golf and Tennis Club. Her doubles partners were often half her age. Alice was also born with skis on her feet and donated her weekends to the Ski Patrol Team in Stowe, Vermont. She also loved to watch her grandkids play Lacrosse and Soccer. She always had her chair and umbrella packed and ready to go. Grammy formed a special bond with her first grandchild Alexia, the two were inseparable. Rumor has it that Alexia could talk grammy into "anything" and grammy was great at keeping secrets she didn't want her mom to know.
Alice enjoyed the many camping trips we took with our travel trailer, in 1976 our family drove across the country and spent a month touring the East Coast.
Alice loved the time spent with friends and family. She would never miss a party or social gathering.
She will be dearly missed by everyone who was lucky enough to know her and her wonderful, sweet disposition.