Alice Trillin
Lindy
I was sorry to see a very small death announcement in the morning paper for
Alice Trillin. It didn't give much information. The entire notice read:
Alice Trillin, an educator, author and muse of her husband, humorist Calvin
Trillin, Sept.11 of heart failure. She was 63.
I think I'll go reread "Alice, Let's Eat" in her memory.
viol...@yahoo.com
www.nytimes.com. I hadn't realized just how extrordinary she was. My prayers
are with her husband and their daughters.
V
Linda Larsen
Oh no! I love everything Calvin Trillin ever wrote, and especially
all his books and references about Alice. This makes me so sad.
Lindy
From the New York Times -
September 13, 2001
Alice Trillin, Educator, Author and Muse, Dies at 63
By CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT
Alice Stewart Trillin — an educator, film producer and author also known as
the muse of her husband, the humorist Calvin Trillin — died on Tuesday evening
at New York Presbyterian Hospital. She was 63.
The cause of death was heart failure resulting from radiation damage to her
heart when she was treated for lung cancer in 1976, her husband said.
She was what Sarah Lyall in a 1994 interview in The New York Times described
as "muse, cheerleader, literary interpreter, straight person and buster of
bubbles," often appearing as a character in her husband's books. She also
became an activist who wrote authoritatively about the life of cancer
patients.
Because of her earlier illness, which she said was caused by her parents'
heavy smoking during her childhood, she became interested in the relationship
of cancer patients and doctors. In 1981 she published an article in The New
England Journal of Medicine, "Of Dragons and Garden Peas: A Cancer Patient
Talks to Doctors," which is still used in medical schools.
In 1996 she published a book, "Dear Bruno," based on a letter she had sent to
a 12-year-old who had cancer. Last January she wrote a much-discussed article
for The New Yorker, "Betting Your Life," dealing with the way patients make
medical decisions.
Alice Stewart was born on May 8, 1938, in Portchester, N.Y., the only child of
Dorothy and James Stewart, a businessman and inventor specializing in the coin
changers of vending machines.
She attended public school in Harrison, N.Y.; Wellesley College, where she
earned B.A. in 1960, and Yale University, where she earned an M.A. in English
in 1961. She taught English at Hofstra University and the City University of
New York.
In the mid-1960's, she helped design a pioneering writing curriculum for the
Open Admissions Program at City College, and she later became writing program
specialist at the City University's instructional resource center. Her
interest in curriculum design led consulting work for WNET/Thirteen when the
television stations was looking for new approaches to educational programming.
In 1981 she formed Learning Designs, a company that produced award-winning
educational television series like "Behind the Scenes," starring the comedians
Penn and Teller designed to teach 10-to-12- year-olds about the creative
process in the visual and performing arts.
In 1965 she married Mr. Trillin and began to appear as the voice of
occasionally deflating reason in his autobiographical writings, particularly
his three books about food called "The Tummy Trilogy" — "American Fried,"
"Alice, Let's Eat" and "Third Helpings" — as well as in "Travels With Alice"
and "Family Man."
Ms. Trillin was on the faculty at New York Medical College, and a board member
of The Hole in the Wall Gang Fund, which supports camps for children with
cancer and blood diseases.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by two daughters, Abigail, of San
Francisco, and Sarah, of Los Angeles.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRILLIN, ALICE
September 14, 2001
TRILLIN-Alice. Wife of Calvin, mother of Abigail and Sarah, September 12,
2001. Friends are welcome at a Memorial Service 11am, September 21st, Celeste
Bartos Forum at the New York Public Library, 42nd St and 5th Ave. In lieu of
flowers, contributions should be made to The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp.
Charlotte L. Blackmer
Lindy <gy...@gypsydogcat.org> wrote:
>
>
>I was sorry to see a very small death announcement in the morning paper for
>Alice Trillin. It didn't give much information. The entire notice read:
>
>Alice Trillin, an educator, author and muse of her husband, humorist Calvin
>Trillin, Sept.11 of heart failure. She was 63.
Oh dear. The Trillins live in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Probably why
you didn't hear much more.
>I think I'll go reread "Alice, Let's Eat" in her memory.
Excellent idea.
CLB
------------------------------------------------------
Charlotte L. Blackmer <http://www.rahul.net/clb>
"Approach love and cooking with great abandon" -
from the Dalai Lama's Rules for Life
Junk (esp. commercial) email review rates: $250 US ea
blake murphy
wrote:
>In article <d7h4qtg2gkisssf5m...@4ax.com>,
>Lindy <gy...@gypsydogcat.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>>I was sorry to see a very small death announcement in the morning paper for
>>Alice Trillin. It didn't give much information. The entire notice read:
>>
>>Alice Trillin, an educator, author and muse of her husband, humorist Calvin
>>Trillin, Sept.11 of heart failure. She was 63.
>
>Oh dear. The Trillins live in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Probably why
>you didn't hear much more.
>
>>I think I'll go reread "Alice, Let's Eat" in her memory.
>
>Excellent idea.
>
>CLB
sad news, indeed. hope it doesn't put calvin off his feed.
your pal,
blake