Alice Mary Novak, 1935-2020

Alice Mary Novak (nee Gaghagen), age 84 of Lake Wales passed away on Friday, March 6, 2020.

She is survived by her husband: Robert "Bob," and children: Michael (Arlene), Daniel (Karen), Robert "Randy" (Paula), Todd, and Christopher. Also surviving are her grandchildren: William "Billy," Steven, Brian, Amy (Randy) Merchant, Megan, Katie, Joshua (Heather Smith), Phillip (Aleisha Brennan), Matthew, and Andrew; and great-grandchildren: Madalyn Russell, Riley Brennan, and Carter; brother-in-law Don Boesch, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sisters Dorothy (Glen) Lacy and Marilyn Boesch, and her beloved son, Timothy.

Friends are invited to join Alice's family at a memorial service in celebration of Alice's life at the Tower Lakes Retirement Community Club House in Lake Wales at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 10. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations in Alice's honor to either Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (www.lssi.org) or Cornerstone Hospice (www.cornerstonehospice.org).

Alice was born on June 7, 1935 in her home on Parnell Avenue in Roseland, Chicago, IL, to parents Earl Scott and Elsie (nee Holze) Gaghagen. She married Robert "Bob" Novak on December 12, 1952 at St. John the Baptist Church in Chicago. Along with raising six sons, Alice was a charter member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in South Holland, IL, drove a school bus with VanDerAa bus company for 10 years and then worked with Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. She and her husband moved down to Lake Wales, FL in 1992, and have been active members of the community ever since.

Alice enjoyed her retirement years participating in the Sassy Singers ensemble, serving as an HOA board member and running a white elephant sale for their retirement community for several years, attending a weekly women's Bible study group, crocheting, reading, doing Swedish embroidery, playing card games, going out to dinner weekly with her neighbors, and doting on her family members and friends. She will always be remembered for her kind heart, her generous and joyful spirit, and for how she loved: fully, without restraint.