Alice Hart

FORT WORTH -- Alice Louise Gatti Hart, educator and supporter of the arts, passed away Friday, March 6, 2015, in the comfort of her eastside home just three months after the death of her beloved husband, Albert Jones Hart.

Memorial service: 2 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at Meadowbrook United Methodist Church. A reception will follow.

Alice was born Dec. 25, 1922, in Shreveport, La., to Hal Mayo Gatti and Hattye Von Allmen Gatti. She grew up as childhood friends with Albert, who, as Alice recalled, would come play with her seven brothers and sisters and drink her mother's fresh buttermilk. Alice pursued her passion for the arts as a trumpet player in the Fair Park High School band, was elected Mardi Gras Queen, and supported the World War II war effort as an ROTC cadet and by corresponding with "Al" during his tour in Alaska and the Pacific. Al and Alice were married on Feb. 9, 1946, at the First Methodist Church in Shreveport.

After two cold winters in Michigan, Alice and Al settled in booming Fort Worth in 1952 with their sons, James Von Allmen Hart and David Albert Hart. Alice quickly found a calling teaching Sunday school at Meadowbrook Methodist and, with Al, became prominent members and a driving force in the life of the church.

Al and Alice moved into the Cape Cod home Al designed on View Street, which, at the time ended before the Hart House that overlooked the 180-plus acres, now Tandy Hills Park. Alice became active in the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra, was a pioneer in early childhood education at the Children's Museum, and was an original co-founder of the White Lake School until she retired from active teaching.

Alice's community activism with Al includes the funding and the establishing of the first Fort Worth AIDS Outreach Center (AOC) in 1991 after the death of their son, David, due to HIV complications. Today the AOC now serves 1,800 clients and their families each day.

On any given night, especially Saturday, Alice and Al could be seen at the Petroleum Club dancing to "Elmer's Tune," their shared favorite. Alice was devoted to the family ski trips with the "Skiing Harts" and was noted for her memorable "cocoa stops" with her grandchildren, Jake and Julia, as a highlight to the ski day. Ever the Mardi Gras Queen, Alice refused to take the senior citizen discount on lift tickets until she was well into her 60s as she could not possibly be old enough to be a senior citizen. She could be heard singing out loud on the slopes, and her laugh was unmistakable.

Survivors: Her son, James V. Hart and his wife, Judith N. Hart; her grandson, Jake V. Hart; her granddaughter, Julia M. Hart Horowitz and her husband, Jordan Horowitz; and the newest member of the family, great-grandson, Arthur Jones Horowitz. The Harts reside in New York and California.