Alice Kiech Whistle, 97 years of age, died at her residence in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on Thursday morning July 16. She was born in Jonesboro to Lyle D. Kiech and Louise Coger Kiech.

She was a devoted daughter and sister. Her older sister, Virginia Kiech Laird of Jonesboro, predeceased her. They were closely bonded all their lives.

Alice was a lifelong member of the First Methodist Church in Jonesboro, as her parents had been. She graduated from Jonesboro High School a year early in 1946 as she excelled in her studies. After high school, she attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She loved college and her many friends. A music major, she was active in multiple campus organizations, including the Pi Beta Phi sorority, of which she would retain treasured memories. She was truly beautiful and won a number of beauty pageants. Upon graduating in 1949, she returned to Jonesboro to her family. She had fallen in love with Clem Whistle, Jr., of Mississippi County, Arkansas, a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. In 1954, she and Clem, by then a prominent farmer, married at the First Methodist Church in Jonesboro.

Alice and Clem moved to their family farm in Mississippi County, where they grew cotton, corn, and soybeans. She thought farming was a wonderful occupation, especially cotton farming. She would always remain a stockholder in the Kiech-Shauver Miller Gin located in Monette, Arkansas, which her father founded.

Clem and Alice had an active life, full of trips to the beach, to the Ozarks, to rodeos (Clem competed in bull riding), and many dinners with their friends and relatives. She and Clem had Sunday dinner at her parents’ house without fail.

Alice became the stepmother of Sharon Whistle when she married Clem. She adored Sharon, who was soon joined by Alice’s own children - Louise, Boken, and her twin daughters, Gini and Mimi.

Despite what they shared, Alice and Clem eventually separated, and she subsequently moved to St. Louis when she remarried, this time to Joe Charleville, a prominent businessman in St. Louis. Children Louise, Boken, Gini, and Mimi all completed high school there.

Alice was socially active in St. Louis. A talented artist as well as a musician, she was especially involved in the arts and in the local museum organizations. She loved animals and was also active in supporting the St. Louis Zoo. Both in St. Louis and in Jonesboro, she was involved in women's rights issues, joining The League of Women Voters and promoting the Equal Rights Amendment. A Democrat, she would stay interested in politics all her life.

As a mother, she was a Girl Scout leader and followed her son in all of his sports activities, including track, football, and rugby. She was equally proud of daughter Louise’s being a champion swimmer and diver.

In 1997 after the last of her children entered college, Alice returned to her hometown of Jonesboro. Once again, she was surrounded by her many friends from childhood, her extended family, her beloved mother, and her sister. She and her sister visited with their mother practically every day, and she and her sister would always be one another’s oldest and dearest friends.

Alice was an active member of the bridge club, birthday club, and the treble clef music club. She loved to garden. Her father was an avid fisherman, and Alice had loved fishing with him. A pet lover (especially dogs), she enjoyed walking and birdwatching - she would exclaim "we're all one with the world!” She and her mother shared an interest in antiques, and her home has always been lovely. She kept it stocked with her one addiction: chocolate ice cream.

She was a tender and generous mother, grandmother, and aunt, and her children and grandchildren adored her. She loved her native state and believed everyone who loved it shared a responsibility to make it better.

Among her talents was cooking, and she delighted in cooking for the entire family. She remained a lovely and gracious hostess to her many friends and will be sorely missed.

Alice was preceded in death by her grandparents, her parents, her daughter Sharon Whistle Walton of Tucson, Arizona, her beloved son Clem Whistle III (Boken) of Jonesboro, her daughter Louise Allison of Santa Fe, New Mexico, her grandson Alec Girault of Santa Fe, New Mexico, her sister Virginia Kiech Laird of Jonesboro, her brother-in-law Knight Laird of Jonesboro, her niece, Sally Mernissi of Alexandria, Virginia, and by her former husbands, Clem Whistle, Jr., and Joe Charleville.

Alice is survived by her daughters, Gini Whistle of Jonesboro and Mimi Kiech Berry of Little Rock, Arkansas, by Louise's two adult children, Natalie Girault of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Nikolas Tschursin of Santa Fe, by Boken's son, Matthew Whistle with his wife Grace, and their three children, Simon, Cecilia, and Jay Whistle of Columbus, Ohio, by Mimi's two adult children, William G. Berry and Alice K. Berry, by Sharon's children, Laura Gale, Andrew Buechter, Christoffe Huser and Jocelyn Smith, and by her sister Virginia's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

The family is forever grateful to Kim Blair and Kisha Craig of Jonesboro for the gentle, loving compassion given to Alice over the last few years of her life and they grew to love her like their own mother. They have supported the entire family. They’re heroes, and Suzanne Herndon and her husband, Drex, have been the best, most loving neighbors anyone could wish for. Thanks also to Dierkson hospice organization for their wonderful assistance in the last several weeks of Alice’s life.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, July 23, 2026 starting at 11:00 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. at Emerson Funeral Home. Burial will be private.