Alice P. Sullivan, 100!, passed peacefully at her home at the VNA Senior Living on Highland Avenue in Somerville, MA on Saturday, October 24th, 2026. Alice was born on March 29, 1926 in Jamaica Plain, MA, the third of six sisters, born to Patrick J. Sullivan and Loretta (Law) Sullivan. She graduated from Jamaica Plain High School with High Honors. After high school, determined to help in the war effort, Alice worked as an administrator at a shipyard.

After the war, she married Arthur DeVasto and moved to West Roxbury, where she raised her three sons, Steven, Arthur (Skip), and Damien, in a house she and her husband built together. While three boys came from their union, and probably many special memories, their marriage did not flourish and Alice became a single mother. Along with the meaningful support of her parents and family, Alice worked an array of jobs to keep the house going. She eventually found her professional home at WGBH in Boston, enjoying the challenge of working for the radio flagship.

Alice had an extraordinary sense of adventure and spirit, which led her to pursue professional and personal passions throughout her life. She advocated for prisoners’ rights and was one of the founders of The Divorced Catholic Group of America at the Paulist Center in Boston – a home for her faith journey at that stage in her life. She was later especially inspired by the strong conviction and caring pastoral touch of John Paul II.

While working full-time, and at a time when older adults were rare in college classrooms, Alice dove wholeheartedly into her education. She graduated summa cum laude from UMass Boston, receiving her BA in Anthropology and Archeology, including coursework toward her master’s degree. Her studies took her to Lagos, Nigeria for extended periods of fieldwork and research.

While reading and research nurtured her sense of intellectual adventure for many years, in her 80s Alice began writing poetry, discovering a new outlet for her creative mind. She was a lively participant in a weekly poetry group at the VNA, for which she often recruited new resident members. As an avid participant of the West Roxbury Library Poetry Contest, she received numerous prizes over the years, including honors for her last poem, written at 99 years of age.

Alice thrived as a lifelong learner. She loved all dance, especially tap dancing, which she practiced as a little one in JP. She was a voracious reader and served as a recommended reader at the library in West Roxbury. Like a good Irish Catholic Bostonian, she loved lively conversation, and a well-told story always brought her a big smile. She loved all music, including opera, and came to appreciate country music later in life, organizing a concert for fellow residents in the auditorium of the VNA.

She traveled the globe – the Caribbean, Europe, and extended stays in Ireland and Africa – yet Boston was always her home. Later in life, she shared her wanderlust with her dear caregivers who came into her life from all over the world.

No matter what was happening in her world, Alice always had a special place in her heart reserved for little ones – and especially in her later years, they brought her tremendous uplift. She never missed an opportunity to give a coo, a hug, and a wave.

Details to celebrate Alice’s life to follow. Services to be organized by the Robert J. Lawler & Crosby Funeral Home