Alice May Strathman, 89, of Kansas City, Missouri passed into heaven on Monday, February 15, 2021 at 2:00pm at her son, Mark Strathman’s home surrounded by family.
She was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 26,1931 to George and Alice Martha Wilhelm. She was the middle child of three, her older sister Joan Conger (deceased) of Cleveland, OH, and younger brother George Fritz Wilhelm, of Las Vegas, NV. All three were born and raised on Bonniewood Drive, in Cleveland. Their street dead ended into the beach at Lake Erie. It was a magical place to grow up with summers filled with days of swimming and beach time.
Alice attended Collinwood High School, and following graduation went on to higher learning at Kent State University. Alice met Eugene Howard Strathman (Major US Airforce retired and deceased), and they married in 1952 in Cleveland. They had three large sons together, Eugene L, Strathman (deceased), Michael G. Strathman of Lenexa, KS and Mark D. Strathman of Kansas City, MO.
She had a 23 year career at The City of Belton City Hall as the Belton City Clerk. She retired from that position Dec 31, 1993. After retiring, she continued to contribute by volunteering most of her time to her church.
Alice is survived by: brother, George Fritz Wilhelm; niece, Pam Conger-Cox; sons, Michael Strathman and wife Lupita, and Mark Strathman and wife Melinda; and grandchildren, Eugene, Jasmine, Bridgette, Casey, Cody, Madison, Chase, and Roman; and 4 great-grandchildren.
A private memorial will be held at a later date for family and close friends. Alice has requested her ashes visit a favorite location in the Colorado mountains.
A special thank you to Melinda Strathman for her tireless and endless service to our mom, and the people at Westbrook Senior Living in Kearney, MO, especially April, Janelle and Joan. They helped make mom’s final years of life more fun, a little wild, and enjoyable.
Thank you mom, for being our mother. All of us are blessed.
Favorite son (jk) ,Lenexa ,Kansas
Our mother has only been gone for four days, but she is sorely missed already. Mark and I are honored by the wonderful compliments people that know her have shared! She must not have grabbed them by the ear, and lifted them up on their tippy toes! Love and miss you mom ❤️💕
Friend ,Kearney ,Missouri
Thank you so much for sharing Alice with us here at Westbrook! I am forever changed by the long talks, great advice, prayer time, and group chats for the Chiefs games! What a fun-loving, life-living, energetic woman! She will be missed greatly!(Thankful I never got the ear grab!)
Words cannot truly express how special Alice was. I count myself so lucky to have know this amazing, sassy, spunky, loving, outgoing woman. I loved getting to sit and visit with her about anything and everything. We shared a passion for our faith and our football team, the CHIEFS! Alice and I would pray together and even enjoy the occasional Happy Hour. You are and will continue to be missed, my dear friend.
Co-worker at the City of Belton ,Belton ,Missouri
Alice was a kindred spirit and someone very special to me and my family. I got to work closely with her at the City of Belton as she was the City Clerk and I the Assistant City Manager. Alice was the "matriarch" of our city hall family. She provided a strength and calmness which was sorely needed during some rather tense times. After her retirement, my family would ride bikes and stop at her house to visit before she moved off of Hargis Lane. In the early to mid 90's, her only grandchildren lived in Cleveland Ohio,. We knew how much she missed them so my wife and I made up an adoption certificate and presented it to her naming her as a honorary grandmother. To this day my kids know her as "Grandma Alice".