Nancy K. Alden, 65
POWNAL, Vt. — Nancy King Alden, 65, of Benedict Road died Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, at her home after a courageous battle with cancer. She was surrounded by family and friends with a view of Mount Greylock and the flowers she loved from her bedroom window.
Born in Englewood, N.J., on March 1, 1944, daughter of Joyce Bierce Lawrence and and the late Thurber Hoffman Bierce, she was a 1966 graduate of Mount Holyoke College. She moved to Williamstown, Mass., in the 1970s from Vermont and to Pownal in 2006.
Mrs. Alden was the innkeeper for more than a decade of Buxton Brook Farm, a popular bed and breakfast she ran from her home on Northwest Hill Road in Williamstown. In her younger years, she the first woman officer in her department at Bankers Trust Co. in New York City, where she was an investment adviser.
She was active in the community, giving generously of her time to a variety of organizations and institutions. Nancy founded the Indian Mountain School Parent-Teacher Organization in Lakeville, Conn., and was an active member of the Pine Cobble School community in Williamstown. She also held leadership positions in the Williamstown Garden Club. Under her stewardship, the club received first-place civic project award from the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts in 1995.
An avid tennis enthusiast, she was head coordinator of Williamstown's Chafee-Hart Memorial Seniors Tennis Tournament, an annual event with which she was affiliated for 20 seasons. Mrs. Alden also held head usher positions at tournaments at Stratton Mountain, at Jiminy Peak in Hancock, Mass., and in New Haven, Conn. In 1994, the U.S. Tennis Association of New England recognized her with an award for outstanding service.
She was a loving and devoted mother of two children and a generous and warm friend to many, said her family, and was well known and loved for her gracious hospitality, her caring nature and her wry sense of humor.
Her husband, William C. "Bill" Alden, died Aug. 23, 1980.
Besides her mother, of Sweetwood Retirement Community in Williamstown, she leaves a son, Seth A. Alden of Pownal; a daughter, Cornelia Alden of Williamstown; a sister, Pamela Bierce, of Philadelphia; two brothers, Alexander "Sandy" Bierce, of Charlotte, N.C., and William Bierce of Mount Kisco, N.Y., and three nieces and a nephew.
FUNERAL NOTICE — A memorial service for Mrs. Alden will be held Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 11 a.m. at First Congregational Church in Williamstown, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to North Adams Regional Hospital through Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, West Chapels, 521 West Main St. North Adams, MA 01247.