Alice Snow Williams

On the night of May 17^th, a few days short of her 91^st birthday, and the same day that her father passed away in 1982, our beloved Class Act, Fun Bomb and Mother-to-All was released from her agony, suffering, and gradual declining health. Alice was always told she was “tough as nails!” When this was said to her, she would bark back that she did not want to be “tough as nails” anymore.

Alice was born in Salt Lake City on May 24^th, 1935, to Maria Ursula Rupp and Oliver Windsor Grant Snow. She was the eldest of three rather regal sisters and had two talented older brothers. Together they played along the banks of the Sugarhouse Creek known as “The Magical Hollow.”  The Magical Hollow was located just behind Hygiea Ice off of 13^th East and 21^st South, down the alley from their home. They would wander into “The Magical Hollow” together for exciting adventures on a regular basis.

If Alice was bullied or pushed around, her big brother Gean was not far behind to straighten out the situation. This, of course, did not happen very often as Alice was always known to be able to take care of herself! Alice wanted to go out and make things happen in her life, she was very independent minded for her day. She sometimes found herself in tough situations as she approached adulthood but always came out on top!

Young Lady Alice worked for a while in the maternity ward of Holy Cross Hospital, washing the babies, and tending to them, most notably having gazed down into the opening eyes of her cherished nephew John Snow as he first greeted the world.

After working in the maternity ward, Alice began to pursue her inherent passion for beauty and entrepreneurship. She obtained her Beautician’s License and began working for a couple that spotted her talent, energy, and leadership skills, offering her the opportunity to manage their salon.

Alice was very confident in her abilities and work ethic. She knew she wanted to open her own beauty salon at some point. Eventually she opened her own salon and named it The Beaux Arts Salon (now Salt Lake Coffee Break) at 430 East and 400 South, downtown. She ran multiple chairs and drying stations, drumming up business, and creating a loyal clientele in what would become the social center of the downtown SLC area of Fourth South.

Alice’s salon was the style hub of countless IBM Executives, the bowling ladies of the Salt Lake City Nissei League, and many other social groups. The Beaux Arts Salon employed friends and even family at times. The exciting cosmopolitan environment was fun for everyone who took part.

Alice remained busy with her salon and had several new nieces and nephews to dote on. Then one day she met her sweetheart Deworth Williams, an up-and-coming entrepreneurial force majeur in the downtown business community and peripheral securities space that centered around the Salt Lake Stock Exchange off of 4^th South and Main Street.

The couple soon tied the knot at Del Webb’s Sahara Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, where Alice had spent considerable amounts of time ‘tripping the light fantastic’ with friends Keely Smith and Louis Prima, as well as his career-spanning saxophonist Sam Butera, who all remembered Alice for decades and into the new millennium, and counted her among their friends.

Alice and Deworth shortly thereafter had their only child, Geoffrey. Moving out of the Capitol Hill and Avenues neighborhood, respectively, to the ivy-covered house on the gulley at 1300 East & Yale Avenue for their newlywed years. The family eventually moved to the Three Fountains Community in Murray to raise their son. They were surrounded by their many wild and wacky, but distinguished, fun-loving friends who as a group, all attended regular gatherings at the University of Utah football games in the all-red SS section of Rice Stadium. This group was led by the larger-than-life, cigar-chomping big Dave Van Wagonen and his ever-resounding clash of “Touchdown Cymbals” that punctuated the roar of the Runnin’ Utes games. Many of the old group eventually “checked out” rather prematurely, significantly lowering the Character meter throughout the Salt Lake Valley.

Before this “thinning of the herd” began, however, the family left the city in the mid to late Seventies, the family left the city and made the move up to the eventual Olympics-hosting ski resort town of Park City to host those same friends at their various homes along the PC Municipal Golf Course. For years they had regular weekend parties, eventually culminating in their rather notorious annual Christmas Eve bashes. These parties ran consecutively for decades in their “House on the Hill” at the mouth of Thaynes Canyon, just off of the 14^th (now the 5^th) tee box of the ‘back-nine’, looking up the canyon at Prospector Ski Run and Jupiter Peak upon which the sun lingered and set late in the evening, and the snowfield refused to melt sometimes until July.

Traveling, in addition to skiing, dining, and socializing at Adolph’s Restaurant next to the Pro Shop, became a regular occurrence. Alice was elected President of the Park City Women’s Golf Association and served for many years. She was involved not only administratively, but also a key figure on the course with the ladies.

The “Muni” eventually hosted the Basil Golf tournament, in honor of the diminutive family canine & local pro shop lounge, Basil. Unfortunately, Basil was plowed down by an inattentive driver somewhere near the end of the driving range and was buried there next to the creek. Alice’s view of the canyon presided over a virtual pet cemetery of a beautiful sage-covered hillside under which five dogs and a cat, along with a few other critters, have rested peacefully over the last forty years. Some of Alice’s remains, in part, may be scattered there, next to her beloved pets.

In addition to being an extremely gifted watercolor painter along with her talented mother and professional artist and instructor brother Ron, Alice also loved writing and literature and for a while she penned a bi-annual advice column glossy publication Prime Entertainment from the progressive enclave of Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Alice, having studied English Literature for years at the University of Utah, eventually became the Director of Creative Group Writers at Work. During this time, she hosted renowned guests in her home which included luminaries such as Ray Bradbury and Dick Gregory. Dick Gregory was so taken with her insight, as well as her bubbly and often over-the-top personality, that he extended his stay at the Williams Family home for several days.

The family often visited their charming beachside Pier Motel in Oceanside, CA in the late Seventies and throughout most of the Eighties. They traveled over the years to Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Manhattan, Upstate New York, New England, and the Eastern seaboard. Alice’s favorites were Park City, California, and Arizona, where she eventually bought a home in 2007. She Traveled back and forth from Arizona to Park City eventually spending more and more time in Arizona with Ron and Bonnie Rasmussen from the old football gang.

Alice unfortunately developed respiratory and cardiological issues, and was diagnosed with AFIB and COPD in 2017, and eventually pulmonary hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, and breast cancer. Cardiopulmonary needs and an ever-increasing ‘air hunger’ at elevation issues of 7,000 feet above sea level in Park City, finally necessitated a permanent move to the Phoenix area. She spent the last few years, again with the golf course view in the Valley of the Sun, at an elevation of 1,100 feet.

She surpassed everyone’s expectations, miraculously rebounding from every setback and exacerbation, surprising her doctors, nurse practitioners, specialists, and home care medical team right up until the very end. She kept hospice at bay until literally “running the tank out” and passing away at her home on the 18th fairway, surrounded and embraced by the loving arms of her family.

Alice had the good fortune to lucidly enjoy a conversation with her unique and dearly beloved granddaughter Jackie, moments before she passed. This conversation ultimately helped to avert the most agonizing end-of-life phase leading up to moving onto another plane.

Throughout it all, and from the beginning, she fully maintained her dignity and kept her chin raised high the entire time. In Alice-like fashion she even continued to accumulate friends and admirers, impressing and amazing them with her resilience and fighting spirit, right up to her last breath.

Alice had true grit, and in the American tradition, never pretended to be anything she was not. She loved British TV and was obsessed with Italian food and culture. She had a distaste for socialites and ladder climbers and was decidedly and consistently unpretentious. She most certainly prioritized fun and good times and tended to often say the “darndest” things much to the delight of her friends and family. Underneath the levity she was genuinely sage, deeply experienced and poignantly knowledgeable when things got serious. Alice was never selfish in any way, especially when it came to helping those who were in need.

Though she became self-conscious during moments when expected to be photogenic, her vibrant smile was infectious. A relatively pixie-haired blonde throughout most of her adult life, she was light in stature but an outwardly vivacious and lighthearted leader who addressed everything meticulously, thoroughly, and elegantly. She always approached challenges with finesse and class.

Her painting style was the same: unrestrained, light to minimalist at times, delicate but fully adequate to generate a full and emotive composition of considerable depth and balance, with a mastery of color. Alice had true style throughout her life in everything she did.

She was not above the quick and tasty fried fare of the day but loved fine food and hosting parties. Alice was the “hostess with the most-ess” who entertained thousands of guests over the years in her Park City home. There is no doubt she has left countless friends and loved ones feeling a profound sense of loss. She often expressed her pride and sense of being blessed by having the privilege to experience the enduring joy of her granddaughter Jackie, with whom she has so much in common, and loved more than anything.

Her loving husband Deworth took care of Alice tirelessly for the last 9 months of her life, right up until the very end along with her son Geoffrey and his wife Sarah.

As we bid farewell for now to her soul, we are comforted knowing that she is rejoicing in the arms of the many who love her.

She was preceded in death by her parents Maria and Grant Snow, brother Alma Gean Snow, sister Kathleen Bessey, brothers-in-law Gary Gilbert, Gary Williams, sisters-in-law Bonnie Snow, Jean Snow, Suzanne Larsen, Sandra Wilkins, and most of her old “friend group” she ran around with back in the day.

She is survived by her husband Deworth Williams, her son Geoffrey (Sarah) Williams, granddaughter Jacqueline, brother Ronald Snow, sister Jolene Gilbert, brother-in-law Lane Bessey and many nieces, nephews, extended family members, dear friends, and those she welcomed into her home as family throughout her life.

The family extends heartfelt gratitude to her niece Leslie and Randy, the Gilbert family, Andrea Moore and Ute Fite, Bonnie (Ron) Rasmussen, the Griffin Family, caregivers Sydney Castro, Ashley and Joni Smith, Kay Bowling, Janice Jordan, NP Sarah Williams, and her Home Health team, and all who cared for and loved Alice during her final years.

A Celebration of Alice’s Life will be on July 25, 2026 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 South 900 East, Salt Lake City.  Guests are encouraged to use the parking and entrance on the north side of the building.