Alice Jane (Mekeel) Guilday died peacefully in her home in Sharon, Massachusetts on February 23, 2024.
Alice was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 27, 1925, to Florence Lisette (Graham) and David Lane Mekeel, Jr. She attended high school in Moon Township and Mt. Lebanon and completed a secretarial course at the Robert Morris School of Business. In 1948, after several years with the Ketchum, MacLeod & Grove advertising agency, Alice accepted a position in the Director’s office at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where she attracted the attention of John Guilday, a newly hired lab assistant with the Department of Mammals.
John and Alice were married in 1950 and spent their honeymoon on a three-month fossil collecting expedition to Utah, Montana and British Columbia. In September of 1952, less than a year after their daughter Kathleen was born, John contracted polio and was hospitalized for 18 months, many of which were spent in an iron lung. When he emerged, John’s arms remained paralyzed from the shoulder down, and for the rest of his life he relied on a variety of machines to breathe. Alice and John became an inseparable team, and theirs was a truly inspirational story of mutual love and courage. For the next 30 years, they worked side by side in their home in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania to produce the formidable body of work that was John’s scientific legacy as the museum’s Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology.
After John’s death in 1982, Alice pursued a wide range of interests. She continued as a volunteer at Carnegie Museum and delivered Meals on Wheels for many years. Alice was a skillful card player, and especially enjoyed line dancing. In 1995 and 1996 she was the Allegheny County Senior Adult Spelling Champion. Before the advent of curbside recycling, Alice collected newspapers and cans from her neighbors and drove them weekly to a recycling center. She was an active member of the Wissahickon Nature Club and the Western Pennsylvania Unit of the Herb Society of America. Alice loved all animals but had a special affection for the Airedale terriers who were her devoted companions for over four decades.
In 2009 Alice moved to Massachusetts to live with Kathleen’s family. Her lifelong ability to make friends easily served her well as she started a new chapter in Sharon, where she immediately connected with several local senior centers. An enthusiastic gardener, Alice enjoyed working in the yard alongside her son-in-law, Aidan, and every day that weather permitted she could be spotted riding her large red tricycle around the neighborhood. Alice took great delight in the company of her grandchildren, Owen and Clare, and their friends. She was a remarkably kind and positive person who, in her final years, often reminded her family that “Together is a wonderful place to be.”
Alice is survived by her daughter Kathleen Guilday and son-in-law Aidan Cunningham, grandchildren Owen and Clare Cunningham, sisters-in-law Patricia Brunett of Fife Lake, Michigan and MaryAnn Mekeel of Venice, Florida, and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will take place, date and time to be announced.
If you wish to make a memorial contribution in her honor, Alice especially favored organizations supporting animal welfare, environmental protection, and Native American rights.