Alida Morse Thistleton

Our mother, Alida Thistleton, two weeks shy of her 97 th birthday, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, April 22 in Villa Hills, Kentucky. She was known for her warmth, handwritten notes, and enduring kindness, leaving a legacy of gratitude and heartfelt connection with everyone she met. 

Alida was born in San Francisco and grew up between there and a pear ranch in Santa Clara, California. She graduated from San Jose State University majoring in dietetics, followed by an internship as a Private Ward Dietitian at Harvard’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. There she met our English father, her husband of 68 years. Dad clearly knew that she was the one because he proposed after only four dates. And she must have known just as quickly because we all have the lamb curry recipe from Family Circle magazine that she cooked the night they met. 

After their wedding they moved to England for a year where Mom ran food service for a nearby school. She fell in love with England, wishing they could have lived there longer and loving every return visit. And clearly England loved her because she has been receiving a monthly pension from them since she retired! But Dad got a great job offer and they were off to Texas, then followed by Parkersburg, WV for Dad to do research at one of DuPont’s largest manufacturing plants. Mom worked as a dietitian at the local hospital, seminary, the public health department and various nursing homes in town while raising four children. 

Beyond the years in Parkersburg raising their children, many of Mom and Dad’s favorite days were in retirement in Trinidad, California. They built a home with magnificent views of the Pacific, waking to the sounds of the crashing waves and loudly yawning sea lions. They made many close friends and volunteered for a variety of local causes. But the desire to be close to family brought them to Kentucky over 20 years ago. The final decades of their lives were centered on their children and grandchildren. 

Mom learned to play the piano at an early age—even being in a “band” with her three siblings. We have so many memories of Mom at the piano, particularly at Christmas. She and Dad connected over music as their second date was to the opera—all they could afford were standing seats. Not surprisingly, classical music was a backdrop to our lives. So, it seemed only appropriate to play classical music by her bedside during her final hours—suggested by a dear friend of hers. 

Mom was a remarkably kind-hearted woman, always making time to have a proper conversation with a dear friend, a family member or even those she had just met. She had an endless supply of cards and a limitless desire to say thank you to those who had touched her life. For those of you who were the recipient of one of her notes, you would know that sometimes her handwriting wasn’t so easy to interpret. But she printed perfectly, so we would always hope for a printed version of her kind thoughts. Even in her last years, at her recent retirement community, she would send daily notes back to the cook about how nice the food was—or make sure she found them to personally thank them. We all hope that we received just a piece of her kind heart. 

She is preceded in death by her husband, Paul, in 2020 and her son, Alan, in 2023. Survivors include her sister, Mary Ruth (Dick) Schack, three daughters: Ruth (Ed) Walton, Anne (Frans) Bicker Caarten, Adele (Dave) Gormley and seven grandchildren: Michael and Nicole Walton, Lindsay (Landon) Baxter, Charlie and Emma Bicker Caarten and Alex (Alissa), Sam and Luke Gormley. 

With love from Ruth, Anne and Adele

* Services are private to the convenience of the family.