Alyce Annette Alexander

Alyce Annette Alexander was born on October 14. 1940; she was the first of two children born to Richard Owens and Oneida Ruth Fisher. For a few years they lived in a little house in Lake Forest Park and later moved to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island where her father, Richard made his living as a fisherman and her mother, Oneida worked for the Washington State Ferries as a kitchen Manager aboard the ferries. She enjoyed living on the island and when not in school, spent most of her time looking for rabbits and building rafts which she and her friends would take out on the water. More often than not, these rafts would fall apart and they'd all have to swim back to shore. She always thought it was funny that they did this and nothing bad had ever happened. It really speaks to her adventurous and often fearless spirit that would rise up throughout her life.

Later, when her sister, Terry Louise was born, Annette was sent to live with her Paternal Grandparents in Seattle. William and Mildred Fisher were very “proper” and expected her to put her tomboy ways away and be ladylike. Annette, seemed fine with this and always said that she was very happy living there. She particularly remembers going to the bus stop at the same time every day to greet her Grandfather who was coming home from his job at the Seattle Library as a book binder. He always had a piece of candy for her and they'd walk home together.

When Annette was 18, she met Paul Greiner and very soon into the relationship, they decided they wanted to get married. Paul was serving in the US Naval Air as a propeller plane mechanic in Port Hueneme, CA, so Annette's mother and future mother in Law drove her down to California so they could get married. Paul and Annette set up house in Ventura, CA where she had two children, Susan Deborah (1959) and Steven Paul (1960). Susan and Steven were 364 days apart and she often referred to them as “Irish Twins”. When Paul separated from the Navy they moved back to Washington and bought a little fixer upper in Greenwood. Annette was a homemaker and Paul worked for the Bon Marche's warehouse. It was at this time that they had their third child, Catherine Anne (1963) and Paul joined the Seattle Police Force. The next few years were difficult and in 1965, they separated and divorced.

Having been married at such a young age and now single in the mid- sixties, Annette found herself at a time of huge social change. Troops landing in Viet Nam, the Civil Rights movement, the growing feminist movement, she must have felt like she had wandered into another time, far removed from her days as a housewife. Annette's adventurous spirit returned and she was determined to have fun and do all the things that she felt she had missed out on. In order to support herself, she obtained a server position at the Space Needle's revolving restaurant which was a

very coveted position at the time and only a select few were chosen to work there. She enjoyed her job at the Needle but eventually wanted to do something better and at the time, she had a good friend who worked as a professor at the University of Washington. He became her mentor and encouraged her to go to college.

Annette enrolled in the Surgical Technologist certificate program at Seattle Central Community College, successfully completed her courses and received her degree. She obtained a job at Providence Medical Center on Capitol Hill and soon became a favorite of a renowned heart surgeon who insisted that she scrub on all of his cases. It was hard work but she loved it and made many friends. After almost 20 years there, the hours of standing became difficult and she retired. Later Annette opened her own Travel Nurse company called, Northwest Medical Recruiters. She got in on the tail end of the opportunity and while she did quite well, things had changed in the industry and she chose to retire once again.

While she was still at Providence, Annette went on holiday to England and Ireland. She was always proud of her Irish heritage and was thrilled to make the trip and see the beautiful green hills. Later, she took several cruises and often enjoyed camping at local camp grounds.

Annette purchased a mobile home and moved to Bothell. She was very happy to spend her days gardening and enjoying her yard. After a few years, that became difficult for her and she moved to senior community in Seattle. More recently she moved to Merrill Gardens in Ballard where she enjoyed meeting with friends every day for lunch and dinner and sitting outside smoking and hearing the latest of goings on. When Annette was still living in the mobile home, she joined the Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America (Ahmes Court 41) where she was a member of the “Greeters” and later joined the “Clowns”. She enjoyed her time as a member and later, when she could no longer drive, she had to stop going to the meetings but had many fond memories of the ladies she had known, the good works they did and the trips they had taken.

Over the past several years, Annette had developed many health issues but she seemed to always bounce back and play off a trip to the ER as more of a nuisance. In early November 2018 her daughter, Susan passed away after a long and difficult battle with Cancer and she found it difficult to process and was unable to come to some kind of terms with it. After that, the visits to the ER became even more frequent and more serious. Then on April 5th, 2019 she passed away peacefully at Ballard Swedish with family by her side.

She will be missed for her strange, quirky and funny personality, her stubbornness, and unrealistic but endearing ideas. Annette leaves behind: son, Steven Greiner; daughter, Catherine Ghavamian, son in Law, Michael Sellers. Granddaughters: Krystal Ghavamian, Shelby Sellers and Molly Sellers, Grandsons: William and Stevie Greiner, Nephew, Rory Sherman.

Annette was preceded in death by her mother, Oneida Wares; father, Richard Fisher, son in Law Cameron Ghavamian, Sr.; Step mother, Donna Fisher; grandson, Cameron Ghavamian, Jr. (CJ) and daughter, Susan Sellers.