Alice Rohde

Alice Violante Rohde died at age 94 on January 10, 2018, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

She was born on December 10, 1923, in Charlestown, South Carolina, to Col. Andre L. Violante of New York City and Alice Sarah Lewis of Copenhagen, Lewis County, New York.

Alice's father was a career Army officer so there were many moves as a child, including to the Panama Canal Zone; Chicago, Illinois; Sparta, Wisconsin; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Atlanta, Georgia; Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, California. She attended elementary and high schools in five different states.

Alice attended San Francisco City College and in 1943 received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California Berkeley, and later a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.

She worked at Hooper Research Foundation doing microbiological research on paralytic shellfish toxins and then at Stanford Hospital when it was in San Francisco, where she assisted research doctors on early open-heart operations. Alice met her future husband, Kenneth L. Rohde, in San Francisco while they were both on the beach doing research collecting mussels to isolate the toxins resulting from "red tides."

They wed on June 29, 1953, and started their 64-year marriage in San Francisco. From there they moved to a rental house in Chicago, that came with a rental dog. Then almost immediately they moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where Kenneth began working at the National Reactor Testing Station. They lived for over 60 years in the same house Mrs. Rohde designed on Safstrom Drive in Idaho Falls.

Alice’s life revolved around her husband and family, and she loved to help others get and enjoy a good education. From 1947-50 she taught at a Boys Club camp for underprivileged boys in the California hills (including the art of catching salamanders). For many years she taught swimming at the Idaho Falls public pool, and as a Cub Scout den mother always had great craft projects. She delighted in encouraging kids with science fairs, experiments, hatching butterflies, reading, "making things" and other projects, including the Idaho Falls Mining Museum, which her children ran in their back yard for many school buses of visitors. She also enjoyed creating interesting presentations for the Antiques Club and the Round Table Club.

Alice and her family spent many weeks each year in San Francisco. She enjoyed camping at Red Fish Lake in Stanley, Idaho, and entertaining visitors at the family’s rustic, hand-hewn Palisades and Tetonia, Idaho, cabins where the box of emergency food could always be counted on for lunch.

She is survived by sons Kenneth Rohde (Martha) of Connecticut, Larry Rohde (Ruth) of Montana, and Don Rohde of Ammon, Idaho, and grandchildren Andy Rohde and Sarah Brown (Rick).

Private family services will be held at a later date.

Private Family Services. She passed away