Obituary of Ann Buchholz Alden

SLINGERLANDS- Ann B. Alden left us on January 12, 2021, after a gradual decline related to her advanced age of 97. She was a resident of the Beverwyck Community, in Slingerlands, since 2013, and from 2000 resided in Delmar. She was lucid and engaged to her last hour. Ann was the daughter of Arthur and Daisy Buchholz, wife of the late John D. Alden, mother of six children, with eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, and a nurturer of many more. She is survived by her children, Carol Fincham (Bruce) of Mariposa, Calif., John R. Alden (Beth Gilford) of Portland, Maine, Eric Alden (Debby) of Torrington, Wyo., Andrew Alden (Fleur Helsingor) of Oakland, Calif., Stephen Alden (Carol Vredenburgh) of Lyme, N.H., and Lawrence Alden (Penny) of Altamont. She was predeceased by her grandson John Robert Alden. Other cherished family members include Emma Piontek (Vredenburgh) and Geir Solberg of Norway, a high-school exchange student who spent a year with the Alden family in the 1970s. Ann was born on June 2, 1923, in Hudson and raised in nearby Claverack. After graduating from Hudson High School she enrolled at Cornell University, where in 1945 she earned a home economics degree that served her family well. But her education, and her commitment to education, never ended. She met John Alden at Cornell and they married in 1944, when he was in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service, later to serve in the Pacific theater as a junior officer on the USS Lamprey. During his 23-year naval career the family lived in many different places on the West, East and Great Lakes coasts. When John began a second career in Manhattan as an executive at an engineering agency, the family settled in Pleasantville, N.Y. for the next 34 years. She gratefully relied on the American Association of University Women to make lasting connections wherever her family moved. She also was a member of the Delmar Progress Club. As their children grew up, Ann and John became indefatigable travelers, visiting over 60 countries. She recorded the itineraries and events of each trip in a scrapbook of mementoes and in detailed letters that her children treasure. During the months of Covid isolation, she took great pleasure in re-taking those trips, one every few days, through her scrapbooks. Ann and John were devoted churchgoers, their latest congregation being the Delmar Reformed Church where she sang in the choir. One of our mother's lifelong joys was reading aloud to children. After her children could read on their own, she read nightly to the children of a Vietnamese immigrant family for 12 years, and she helped with reading in the local grade school and in a home for children. She was a member of her local Literacy Volunteers for 15 years. Mom was a tireless reader who wore out her library card everywhere we lived, reading more than a book a week for the last 30 years of her life. She liked history, biographies, and novels of all sorts, and was always happy to give and accept recommendations about what to read next. Our Mom was a person of formidable resources and strength of character who brought to mind the words of Psalm 91: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.'" Owing to the pandemic, there will be no services in the immediate future. Interment will be in the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville, beside her beloved "Johnny." Arrangements by Simple Choices, Inc. To leave a special message for the family, please visit: SimpleChoicesCremation.com