ESSEX — The late Alice Paden Green, 84, was many things to many people here, Albany, and beyond.
To her husband, Charles Touhey, she was his best friend and wife of 52 years, and mother and grandmother of their progeny.
In Witherbee during the height of the Great Migration, Alice’s parents and five siblings – Geraldine, Joan, William, Ralph, Raymond Clyde – relocated from Greenville, South Carolina to the Adirondacks.
Her father, William, an iron ore miner until a debilitating injury, worked for the Republic Steel Corporation.
Her mother, Annie Mae, a homemaker and devoutly Christian woman, left behind the limitations and terror of the Jim Crow South and found an arboreal sanctuary within the Blue Line.
On Lakeshore Road in Essex, Alice was a welcoming host, a splendid cook, and an avid gardener.
In Albany, Alice was the founder of the Center for Law and Justice, an intrepid activist for social justice, an inquisitive and published scholar, and a chronicler of her life in two memoirs.
Alice departed this world after cardiac arrest at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, according to Charles, who was quoted in a Times Union article by Steve Hughes.
REACTIONS/REFLECTIONS
Casey Seiler, Editor, Albany Times Union:
“I knew Alice’s reputation, but I first met her in person was before my son’s prom because my son and Alice’s granddaughter went to high school together. They had gone to daycare together. I knew Alice’s son, before I had met Alice. Alice lived just a couple of blocks from me. I became editor just a couple of weeks before COVID and a couple of months before the killing of George Floyd happened and the racial reckoning. The Times Union kind of within the newsroom did a lot of work in response to that and created a Community Voices Panel that tried to serve as kind of more of a feedback loop for communities of color and other historical marginalized communities. Talking with Alice, both in the context of that panel, but also talking with her on other things, I know made me a better journalist, made the Times Union, I think, a better paper in the way that it covers historically marginalized communities, which does not mean that I always agreed with her. But one of the remarkable things about Alice was that you could disagree with her and vice-versa, but it did not stand in the way of an ongoing dialogue on the issues that she thought were so important.”
Allison Heard, Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at SUNY Plattsburgh:
“Alice was a very energetic and fit young lady. As a newer member of the Plattsburgh and North Country community, she embraced me like she knew me for many years. I admired her passion for life, and her passion for discussing issues that impact our perspectives about social justice. These are often issues that people shy-away from but she addressed them head-on. Her message resonated with people from all walks of life because everything she did was steeped in love and the desire to uplift everyone around her. She was a multicultural woman in every sense of the word. She knew what it felt like to grow up in a community where she did not see many people who looked like her, but that did not stop her from reaching for the stars and excelling in her field. Whereas some people can say they achieved things ‘because of’ certain environmental factors, she achieved things ‘despite’ many of the barriers that were often placed in her way. She accomplished things as an African American woman that laid the groundwork to make space for African American women like myself and others. People often remind us to celebrate our sheroes and heroes while they are in our midst and I am SO HAPPY I was able to celebrate her!! I will miss you, Alice Green but your legacy lives on in my heart and soul!”
Jacqueline Madison, President, North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association:
“Alice Green has been a great supporter to the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association. She had a keen interest in supporting the rights of Blacks and had annual gatherings at her home in Essex for conversations on ways to address equal rights. Alice hosted a conversation earlier this month on reparations (The New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies) that I attended, which focused on ways to recognize the contributions enslaved people made to this country. She spent much of her time helping those individuals who could not help themselves and was a vocal advocate for prison reform. Her contributions to the Adirondack area will not be forgotten and her legacy promoting the rights of all people will be carried on by all who knew her. Alice will be missed by the North Country Underground Historical association not just because of her support but because she embodied freedom for all which is the foundation of our organization.”
Don Papson, Founder/Inaugural President North Star Underground Railroad Historical Association, Co-founder North Star Underground Railroad Museum:
“Alice was a generous friend, a tenacious rectifier. Her spirit will extinguish injustice always.”
Ken Hughes, Essex Supervisor:
“She was an amazing force for good and righteousness.”
Peter Slocum, President of the Essex County Historical Society/Adirondack History Museum:
“The death of Alice Green is a great loss. She was a legendary champion of civil rights, a fierce advocate for justice who fought for national causes and for individual families. She was also an incredibly important Adirondack historian, having grown up in southern Essex County mining country. Her memoir, ‘Outsider: Stories of Growing Up Black in the Adirondacks’ was published last year, and helped bring to light often-overlooked realities of Adirondack life.”
Martha Swan, Executive Director, John Brown Lives!
“We are numb with sadness and disbelief at Alice Green’s sudden passing. Alice and her husband Charles Touhey were among the very first friends and champions of John Brown Lives!, and her spirit and her example have guided JBL! ever since our founding in 1999. It was a great honor for us to recognize Alice for her tireless work for racial justice and civil rights with the inaugural Spirit of John Brown Freedom Award in 2016. We will miss her, but her spirit lives on. Alice Green Lives!”