Alice Carroll Hunter Nelson, “Kissy” to all who knew and loved her, died peacefully at her home in Beaumont on November 30, 2016, surrounded by family and friends. All eleven of her children were at her side.
She had celebrated her ninety-second birthday last month.
The sixth child of Annie Edmonston Hunter and Thomas Harbert Hunter Jr., Carroll was born in Beaumont on October 24, 1924. She attended Averell Elementary, Dick Dowling Junior High, and Beaumont High School, where she was voted “Most Popular Girl” in her class and made many lifelong friends.
Carroll’s great love in those days was dancing. An outstanding student at the Sproule School of the Dance, she was singled out in June, 1942, by Eola Hearn of the Beaumont Enterprise, as a “cool and dignified blonde whose technique is flawless” and who “incited a patriotic lump in the throat with her interpretive classic, ‘There Will Always Be an England.’
Carroll’s teacher, Beaumont’s legendary “Miss Judith” Sproule, had plans to take her to New York City to introduce her to the leading dance masters of the time. But in August, 1945, after graduating with a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, Carroll returned home to Beaumont and met Corporal David R. Nelson, Jr., U.S.M.C., who was just back from the war. And after a whirlwind courtship, the beautiful ballerina married the blue-eyed Marine on February 8, 1946.
They were married for sixty-seven years.
Carroll was a member of St. Anne Catholic Church, where she served on the parish council and was the world’s most devoted PTA mother, class mother, and den mother, eleven times over, at St. Anne Catholic School. She was also a member of the Beaumont Junior League and one of the best bridge players in town.
In the 1970s, Carroll became a licensed realtor and joined American Real Estate, where she was a “Top Producer” many times over, and was named Salesperson of the Year by Beaumont Board of Realtors in 1992.
Carroll was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her sisters Frances Heyck and Marjorie Peterson Minton; her brothers Harbert Hunter, William Hunter, and Keith Hunter; and her grandson Chris Kansas.
She is survived by her sister, Mary Lou Terry, of Beaumont; her children and their spouses: David III and Terri Nelson of Beaumont, Theresa and Kevin Cooney of Houston, Frances and Tim Arnoult of Houston, Hunter and Betsy Nelson of Houston, Mary Pat and Marty Gross of Corpus Christi, Carroll and Jeff Patrizi of Houston, Annie and Wayne Kansas of Houston, Jane and Joe Bob Kinsel Jr. of Beaumont, James and Cindy Nelson of Beaumont, John Henry Nelson of Beaumont, and William Nelson of Dallas; her grandchildren and their spouses: Katherine and Scott Davis, Elizabeth Nelson, Ashley and Henry Burk, Michael Cooney, Brian Cooney, Errol and Erin Cooney, Annie Arnoult, Timothy Jr. and Kari Arnoult, Hunter Jr. and Jane Nelson, Emily Nelson, Jack Nelson, Houston Jr. and Kate Johnson, Alice Carroll Johnson, Mary Pat Patrizi, Frances Elliott, Martin Kansas, Nelson LeBlanc, Keith Nelson, Read Nelson, Craig and Keely Kinsel, Todd and Natalie Kinsel, Scott and Angie Kinsel, David Rogers Nelson IV, Mollie Nelson, William Nelson Jr., and Sarah Jane Nelson; her great-grandchildren: Austin, Andrew, and Grace Katherine Davis, Mae Elizabeth and Tessa Katherine Burk, Mick Connell, Stella Carroll, Everett, Cullen, and Mary Cooney, Colby and Frances Beserra, Addison and John Timothy Arnoult III, Merritt Johnson, Julian Kansas, Caroline, Catherine, Max, Penelope, Luke, Oliver, Waylon, and Cavender Kinsel; and a host of dearly loved nieces and nephews.
Carroll’s family also includes her Eucharistic minister, Judette Crisman; her loyal, loving caregivers: Kizzy Senegal, Neva Jasper, and Natalie and Tiffany Midkiff, Chris Squez, the late Lourdes Herrera, and the staff of Compassion Hospice.
A Rosary will be recited at 5:30 p.m. Friday, December 2, 2016, in St. Anne Catholic Church, 2715 Calder Avenue, Beaumont, followed by a celebration of her life at 6:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Anne on Saturday, December 3, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. Her interment will follow at Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. Anne Catholic Church, 2715 Calder Avenue. Beaumont, Texas 77702.
