Alice Augusta Hony Lewinsohn, 90, died on April 11 at home in Overland Park, Kansas.
Born on Dec. 19, 1934, in Hilchenbach, Germany, infant Alice left Germany on July 17, 1938, with her parents, Kurt and Hilde Hony, for safety. The Honys immigrated to Kansas City and opened the H & M Market off Southwest Trafficway in Westport.
Alice graduated from Southwest High in 1953, where she made lifelong friendships with the “Top of the Hill” gang. Alice attended university in Columbia, Missouri, and obtained her teaching degree at Kansas City University. Alice taught kindergarten at the Center School District and at the Hebrew Academy.
In 1955 she met her future husband, Thomas Frank Lewinsohn, on a double date with other people in a nightclub at 18th and Vine. They discovered they each spoke German, and it was love at first sight. They married in 1957, giving birth to two children, daughter Deborah Lewinsohn and son Robert (Rob) Steven Lewinsohn, born in Topeka, Kansas, while Tom was employed by the state government there.
Alice was a warm and engaging person, like a Pied Piper, and wherever she went she made new friends and included everybody. Alice and Tom explored the world, having taken 35 trips and 25 cruises and making abundant life long friendships. Alice was a talented pianist and played the Clavinova to attract customers to the piano store where she worked.
Alice later worked at her son Rob’s card and gift store, CRAZE. Alice avidly played mahjongg, poker and Pan, and she was active in a Mercedes club and a prayer group.
Alice was an elegant, extraordinary woman, with a sharp mind — kind, generous, gracious, funny and charming, attracting a plethora of friends.
Alice was surprised and thrilled in November of 2008 to be contacted by Matthias and Beate Engelbert, whose grandfather Fritz Engelbert, Sr. had been friends with Alice’s grandfather Seligman Hony in Hilchenbach. Matthias said his father, Fritz, Jr., a Nazi, “got teary before the 70th anniversary of Kristellnacht in November of 2008 and asked Matthias to learn if any member of the Hony family had survived the Holocaust and had offspring somewhere in the world.” Tracking a Stolpersteine installation, Matthias learned from the newspaper report that Seligman’s granddaughter Alice married Tom Lewinsohn, lived in Kansas City, and had visited Hilchenbach in 1983, when neighbors gave Alice the enamel plate of her grandfather Seligmann’s butcher shop, “Seligmann Hony Metzgerei.” He made immediate contact by email\ and visited Alice and Tom yearly since.
Alice leaves behind her beloved husband of 67 years, Tom; her children Debbie and Rob; her devoted caregiver; granddaughter Anastasia Gregory; great-grandson Sean Michael Graham; former son-in-law Pete Brown; cousin Howard Eichenwald; sister-in-law Cynthia Lewinsohn; and friends Sharon Kohn, Leatrice Endlich, Carolynn Fischel, Rhonda Ruggles, and Matthias and Beate Engelbert.
Funeral services were held on April 16 at Louis Memorial Chapel. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (5801 West 115th St., Suite 106, Overland Park, KS 66211) or charity of your choice.
Online condolences for the family may be left at louismemorialchapel.com.