Alice DeVane

Alice DeVane age 75 passed away on April 9th, 2020, after thirty five days of battling pneumonia. She spent her life following her passions, and sharing them with others. She will be remembered by her family and friends as loving and generous, as well as, passionate and determined.                                                                                                                                

Alice was born in 1945 in the state of New York to John and Alice (Wesick) Nussbaum. She was the fifth of six children. In 1962 she defied social standards, giving up her high school diploma to elope with Tommy Dykes DeVane. So many people told her she was wrong, but Alice only listened to her heart. They have been happily married for 57 years. Alice was an avid reader, writer, researcher, and educator. While living a life as a military wife, she became determined to complete her education, and so she found a way to finish her high school education, work at various jobs, raise two children, and attain an Associates Degree in Arts and Literature with an emphasis in Journalism from South Oklahoma Community College. After Tommy retired to Valdosta, she began teaching Spanish at Lowndes High School but never gave up her love of learning. While teaching full-time she worked towards and attained a Bachelor’s in English with an emphasis in Journalism, as then a  Master’s in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Spanish from Valdosta State University.

She retired from Lowndes High School after 20 years, but she stayed active teaching at Georgia Military College, and Valdosta State University, writing for various magazines and non-profits, as well as becoming a member of the Georgia Retired Educators Association, the Valdosta Lowndes Retired Educators Association, and volunteering for Learning in Retirement at VSU. She also began researching the family’s geneology and discovered a new passion in her later years. She has years of research and records for the DeVane, Nussbaum, Bierman, Haapalainan, Sanders, and Sullivant families which will be opened to the public on Family Tree Maker.

She is preceeded in death by her parents John and Alice Nussbaum, and her brother Albert Nussbaum.

She is survived by her husband Tommy DeVane Sr., her son and daughter-in law Thomas (Becca) DeVane Jr., her daughter and son-in-law Vicki (Steve) Young, and her grandchildren Tabitha, Travis, Allee, and Samantha. We love her with all our hearts and are thankful to know she is no longer suffering. We are truly hoping that she is getting first hand help filling in all the gaps in her genealogical research questions.

Currently there are no memorial services or funeral plans for Alice DeVane. In lieu of flowers, we ask that a donation be made to Second Harvest “Kid’s Cafe” 1411 Harbin Cir, Valdosta, GA 31601 in memory of her love for students and education.

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