Global Ministries is saddened to learn of the death of Rosemary Alland
Rosemary Kennedy Evans Alland
April 21, 1932 – November 24, 2014
Rosemary Kennedy Evans Alland, 82, died on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, April 21, 1932, she grew up in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Minnesota. She attended Texas Christian University for college and seminary, graduating in 1954. Additional study was done at the University of Kansas, at Michigan State University and in Belgium where she was accredited to teach in the Congo.
Rosemary married Lawrence Martin Alland on December 29, 1953, and lived to celebrate more than 60 years of marriage. They had four children and 11 grandchildren.
Rosemary was a minister’s wife and an ordained minister. On behalf what today is Global Ministries, she was an educational missionary in the Congo, from 1958 until 1960, and then was evacuated at the time of independence.
Rosemary Alland taught from time to time at all levels, pre-school through college. She was a politician, serving 12 years (1969-1981) on the Grand Rapids Michigan school board where her roles included treasurer and president. During 1973-1982, she served as the campus activities administrator, and then took the role of chief personnel officer at Grand Valley State University. From 1982 until 1989, Rosemary served as minister of older adults at University Christian Church and coordinated planning for the University Place Retirement Community. She served on the Mayor’s Committee on Aging, the Tarrant Area Community of Churches Task Force on Aging, the Agency on Aging Advisory Council, and numerous committees related to housing for seniors.
Rosemary Alland retired in 1989 but maintained an on-call advisory relationship with the Agency on Aging Advisory Council. Rosemary once commented, “I have been fortunate to have had at least eight lives — they often overlap and I do regress from time to time. I trust that I will have several more lives.” She stated “The common theme that seems to run through my journeys has been being involved with persons in many different situations. I don’t know how much influence I have had on them, but I know that I have learned a lot in each of my undertakings and grown in my understanding in many, many areas.”
Rosemary Alland is survived by her husband, Reverend Lawrence M. “Larry” Alland; her daughter, Mary Margaret Serafin; sons, John Mark Alland and wife, Mary Jane Alland, James Michael Alland and wife, Cathy Alland, and Timothy Kirk Alland and wife, Carla Vogel; grandchildren, Claire and Hope Serafin, Jeremy, Kevin, Victoria, Jennifer, Patrick, Timothy, Olivia, Audra and Jenna Alland; and a host of other relatives and friends.
Memorials may be made to University Christian Church, 2720 South University Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76109-1197, or Congo Protestant University (American Liaison Board), 2216 Elgin Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27106.
Condolences may be sent to her husband, Reverend Lawrence Alland at 4701 Shady Ridge Court, Fort Worth, TX 76109-1803.