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In Loving Memory Of

1945

2003

Jerefane VVaCton flCCen

Saturday, January 3, 2004 - 11:00 a.m. County, "Washington, (jeorgia
(Pastor <Rp6ert Lee Crauford~-(Presiding

Nurturing and Building Homes the World Over
Jerelene Walton Alien was above and beyond all else mother, wife, daughter and grandmother whose intense love; loyalty, unassailable poise and passionate style will live on in all who loved her. Her life was marked by a deep devotion to her children and a love of family and travel that would carry her to the far corners of the world and back.
In 1969 shortly after the birth of her son Craig she and the family moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where daughter Kimberly was born in 1970. Then, in a scene that would repeat itself for the better part of fifteen years, she shepparded the family from diplomatic postings in east Africa and South and Central America to occasional stays in the Washington, DC area. She learned and spoke French and Spanish, while creating in each place a nurturing and loving home for her family. Jere also developed and was constantly lauded for her culinary and entertaining expertise. In fact, long before the advent of Martha Stewart whether in Tannanarive, Tegucigalpa or Lima, hers were the invitations sought and the dinner parties not to miss.
Her years in Madagascar - her first time overseas - perhaps best illustrate the woman Jere was to many of us. In Madagascar she fell in love with the Friday open-air market (Zuma) from where she began a collection of native musical instruments. She taught English language courses to Malagasy students and substitute taught at the American School. She also embarked on the first of what would become many culinary adventures as she learned to cook Malagasy dishes. It was here that she developed what would become lifelong friendships and - a little known fact - a lifelong love appreciation for Malagasy Music.
In 1976 a violent civil war broke out in the capital city endangering the lives of Americans in neighboring areas. Soon, with Jere at the helm, the Alien household became home for three additional families until the fighting ceased. Shortly thereafter, continuing hostilities in the island-nation would require Charles to depart for Kenya suddenly - leaving Jere alone with seven-year-old Craig and four-year-old Kim to catalogue all the familys belongings and make the necessary preparations for their departure for Nairobi, Kenya, a month later.
In Honduras, Jere began pursing another lifelong interest by actively raising sorely needed funds and supplies for Honduran orphans. It was this experience that inspired her later sponsorship of two children overseas - a little girl in Haiti and a boy in the Congo.

In Peru, it was again her love of the cuisine and her study of it that sustained her. It was also the open-air markets, this time with art and metalwork that inspired and contributed to an increasingly eclectic sense of style that would become her own.
Upon her familys return to the United States for good in 1983, Jere began her career outside the home - first in banking and retail and finally, as an adjudicator with the Department of the Navy in Washington, DC. All the while creating the nurturing environment from which both her children would leave for college and building nurturing families of their own.
Along the way Jere, was herself sustained by the love of dear friends and devoted family and she would want each of you to know this.