Alice Billheimer Obituary

WALDOBORO…………….Alice Fiske Hilliard Billheimer, 85, of Waldoboro, passed away on

January 28, 2026 due to complications relating to Parkinson's disease with Lewy Body

Dementia. She is survived by her beloved husband of 64 years, David, and her

daughters Suzanne and Carrie.

Alice was born and grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts, the daughter of Margaret

and William Hilliard, graduating from Framingham High School in 1958. She studied

music and sociology at Oberlin College in Ohio, where she met Dave in their first

semester. They married when both were still in school, and she graduated with an AB in

1962. After college, they first lived in Ohio where their two daughters were born, and

later moved to Maine, settling in Tenants Harbor and later moving to Waldoboro. In the

Harbor, she opened and ran a thrift store for 18 years, becoming such a well-known

fixture in the area that right up until the month before she died, people would greet her

in stores saying 'You are the lady that ran The Clothes Basket!"

Alice was involved in music all her life. She began playing the piano, and later the organ,

as a young girl. She passed her love of the craft on to countless piano students young

and old, sang in local choirs (she especially loved the annual Messiah Sing Alongs), and

was the adored church organist at the Federated Church in Thomaston for 29 years.

She and David made countless friends there, many of whom visited her in Hospice at

the end.

Books were another huge part of Alice's life, and she shared her love for reading with

her children and grandchildren, and also with myriad close friends she met through the

Phantom Friends, a fan group for girls' series books and other girls' novels from the '30s

through the 60s. She and Dave traveled all over the country in their Airstream attending

and running conferences for the group (including one memorable trip across the

country and back with their grandson), and she wrote articles and short stories for their

publication. She loved perusing used book stores, garage sales and thrift stores for just

the right books, and amassed a spectacularly large collection of books of all kinds,

particularly girls' series books and books with Maine themes.

Alice was an intelligent, hard-working woman with a keen sense of humor. She

brightened her family's lives with spectacular Christmas mornings, music, book-talk and

laughter. She was known and cherished by family and friends everywhere, and will be

especially missed by her husband Dave, her daughters Suzanne Amara (Tony) and

Carrie Gorman (Mike), grandchildren Zeben Gorman (Angela), and William, Frederick

and Jane Amara, great-grandchild Olive Gorman, and another on the way. She also

leaves behind siblings Sarah Graham (Larry DuDavage), Walter Hilliard (Donna), Timothy

Hilliard (Cindy Stevens Neff), and Jane Black-Lee Wallace nieces and nephews Eric,

Dawn, Russell and Beth Ann, and was predeceased by niece Laura and nephew John.

To honor Alice's wishes, there will be no funeral services. Please celebrate her memory

by listening to or playing a favorite piece or music, reading a treasured book, or better

yet, watching an episode of Jeopardy. Condolences and memories may be sent to the

loved ones directly, or through Long Funeral Home in Camden

www.longfuneralhomecamden.com, or The Federated Church in Thomaston, Maine.