Alison Otstot
Alison Otstot
Subtitle
Celebrate the Life of
Amy Alison Otstot
Memorial on the Healthcare Business Women's Association's website. Alison was the Director of IT for the organization.
We will remember Alison’s beautiful personality, her sharp mind and what a pleasure it was to work with her. In doing a PhD there are many highs and lows and we experienced them all with Alison. Through all of it she showed grit and determination, but mostly she was just great to have around.
Greg Whymark and Evelyn Hovenga
My fondest memory of Alison was a very rainy day at the HBA Woman of the Year Reception in New York City. Despite her back pain, Alison was bubbly and beautiful. I had come into the city from New Jersey via mass transit without an umbrella on a clear and sunny day that quickly turned into downpours of rain. Alison gave me her umbrella for my walk back to the train station. This was just a small example of her wonderful selfless inner beauty – but one that I will remember forever.
I worked with Alison constantly for the past two years in my role as HBA board director of technology – she created a very special place in my life and my heart that will not be forgotten.
Beth Everett, Ph.D.
We loved Alison as a daughter. She was fun, smart, caring and loving. One of my memories was our 50th anniversary. She was such a part of that. She made the stuffed mushrooms and everyone loved them. After that people at my church wanted to the recipe. Every function we had for a while, it was “Would you ask Alison to make the mushrooms?” After she taught me how to do them, it was “Could you bring Alison’s Mushrooms?” I think they will always be known by us as Alison’s Mushrooms.
No matter how badly she felt, she was to me always “Good”.
We will miss her happy smile and caring ways.
Mom/Grandmom & Dad/Grandad
Alison and I went to the same high school. Not at the same time, but our siblings crossed paths. To find we had Madison West in common brought an immediate bond. I was delighted to be on the wedding committee for Bill and Alison's wedding and especially to see them smile and smile and smile. It was lovely. Alison had such a good time that not only did she then join the wedding committee but she volunteered to be its head. Wow! Alison had the Nativity community spirit to serve! She will be dearly missed.
Emilie Sigel
My best take-away from HBA was my friendship with Alison. There are so many stories; I wouldn’t know where to start. But the essence of all of them is the same: Alison’s generosity of spirit, loving heart, and great smile.
Most of all though - I’m going to miss that laugh!
I love you Alison.
Holly Forester-Miller
In the early 1990's A squared (for Amy Alison) was living in a starter home in Miles City, Montana, best known for being one end of the huge cattle drives they used to have in the old days of the Wild West. She gave me the grand tour as if she were Jackie Kennedy showing off the White House. Alison wore her trademark warm smile throughout, and a humorous glint in her eye. You see, Miles City was still a big cow town and Alison went with that decor. She had the cow place mats and the cow mugs and a cow apron and all possible things either cow shaped or with that white and black spotted cowhide pattern. Way cool.
John Plummer
Alison and I served on the vestry together for a couple of years and one amazing memory I have of her comes from a Vestry Retreat at the Trinity Center at Salter Path. We were doing some intricate brain-storming session organized by Mother Diane which of course involved many colors of sticky notes, rotating and interchanging groups and huge pieces of paper taped to all the walls around the room. Alison's back was bothering her and several of us suggested she take it easy and join us later when she felt better. Refusing to be deterred from participating, Alison's lovely voice would chime into the discussions, floating up from behind one of the couches as she stayed flat on her back on the floor the entire session. We didn't see her, but she sure was there. When we returned, she created lovely keepsakes for us of the vestry collect we had created that trip. She will be missed and her spirit recognized for years to come in who we are at Nativity.
Sally Bloom
My favorite memory of Alison is from the 2008 Vestry retreat when we had the opportunity to take a relaxing walk on the beach…we chatted a bit, but mostly just enjoyed the beautiful surroundings…
Helen Armstrong
Alison was a genuinely caring person. When she asked how you were doing or how things were going, you could tell she really cared about your response. We will miss hearing her tell stories about the cats and all the laughs we shared. She always made us feel so special, and we will all miss her very much.
Adam, Ashlee, Alissa, & Austin
I have many fond memories of Alison. We met in Rockhampton many years ago, she was my saviour as she was the only person able to make a significant contribution to the health informatics initiative I was leading at the University at that time. Alison made a very significant contribution as a colleague and friend for many years and successfully completed her PhD under my supervision. Throughout this time we had many happy social encounters, we shared many Christmas dinners, professional engagements, hosting overseas visitors and numerous intimate conversations. Alison encouraged me to have a new dog and she cared for him on numerous occasions when I was out and about. I had the pleasure of visiting her, Bill and Sara last year, and to witness her new found happiness. Alison’s many talents will be sadly missed.
Evelyn Hovenga
At a "spooky" poker night (think costume party plus poker game) several years ago, Alison came as a pirate, complete with a hollowed out peg leg Bill had made for her. You could tell she was very proud of that costume, and she should have been! It was absolutely amazing.
She was smiling from ear to ear all night. You could really see the time and effort they had both put into making that costume.
Steve McNatton
We have had a great tradition of "spooky" poker night every Halloween. It is really nothing more than an excuse to get adults to dress up in funny costumes and make fools of themselves! A few years ago, Bill and Alison took it to a whole new level. Alison came dressed as a pirate complete with a handcrafted peg-leg courtesy of Bill. The best part of the evening was when Alison sat down at the poker table, took off her "leg", removed a flask of rum from a secret compartment, and raised it in a toast. Alison had a great spirit and knew how to make us all laugh.
Eric and Sharon Herrin
I remember meeting Alison for the first time when Sara and Monique at the age of 4 years, had Sara’s first ballet lesson in Rockhampton. Alison and I just clicked and a warm friendship started and to this day I have wonderful, happy memories of us as ballet mums. When Sara and Monique were 'pink cats' for the "Cats" performance at Miss Narelle's, Alison had been given the job of making the cats' tails from boa feathers and I recall her saying that her house looked like she had just plucked a pink cat!
Cath, Col, Katelin and Monique Balderson (Rockhampton, Qld, Aust).
Bob and I spent many a Monday morning at Nativity when Alison served on the Vestry. Bob was Treasurer and Alison was on the financial committee. I held down the volunteer desk to answer the phone on Monday mornings. We got to know one another, chatting about our backgrounds, families, work life, etc. We found Alison to be a loving, caring person and very bright, helping Bob to make his task more efficient. It was a joy to share our mornings with her. We will surely miss her at Nativity and we share her family's grief in her passing.
Pat and Bob McQueen
I really got to know Alison 4 years ago on our daughter’s 8th grade class trip to the coast where we sat together on the bus ride to Carolina Beach as chaperones. From that day we found that we had some things in common. We both liked to sew and do ceramics. She introduced my daughter and me to a great ceramic studio in Wake Forest. At first I wasn’t sure of her last name, so I started calling her “Mrs. Sara Newman”. She thought that was so funny that she started calling me “Mrs. Emily”. We still used those “terms of endearment” just 2 weeks ago when we saw each other again after several months. The most memorable time would have to be when we boxed hundreds of mints in small boxes tied with colorful ribbons which were the favors handed out at Bill & Alison’s wedding, and then decorated the church hall for the reception. My daughter and I also spent some time with Alison, Bill and Sara at Emerald Isle last year. We will deeply miss her sense of humor and friendship.
Debbie Trapani
Growing up in Madison we called ourselves the Mad City Girls. We are all actually a bunch of egg heads, but like to think we are wild and crazy. It’s hard to think back on all of the wonderful memories I’ve had with Alison…knowing her for over 40 years. She was one of the most talented and gifted friends I’ve ever had. From her beautiful flute playing (we used to play a Mozart concerto for flute and piano as well as the Claude Boling jazz music), to her acting and dancing in all of the high school musicals, she had so many talents. She was the star of many of our high school musicals and I had the pleasure of creating a special (and risqué) costume for her role as the lead in Fiorello! Of course, she was fluent in French and we enjoyed many fond memories making Mousse au Chocolat and dreaming of visits to Paris. I always admired Alison’s passion for learning and was so impressed to learn of what she accomplished with her PhD and various research endeavors after high school and college. More recently, I was so pleased to reconnect with Alison professionally through the HBA. She was a woman of many talents who contributed so much during her short time here on earth.
We were all so looking forward to our reunion of the Mad City Girls next June in Wisconsin and it won’t be the same without her. While time and distance have kept us apart in some respects, we shared such a great bond and connection that when we last met, it was like 25 years had never passed. Our lives will never be the same without her bright eyes, smile, clever wit and joie de vivre. I wish I could be there this weekend to celebrate her life with you and all her friends and family. I know that I will forever be grateful that she was such an important part of my life and I will cherish all of the memories. I will think of Alison often and when I do, it will be with great fondness.
Alison was one “class act” of a lady who will be dearly missed.
Beth (Dexter) Harper
I feel privileged to have worked with Alison in her capacity of IT Director for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. Her competence was reassuring, her personality engaging and our exchange of mutual respect endearing. I’ll always remember her visit to The Charles Group offices in NJ during a snowstorm. We often laughed about her intrepid trek to the office.
We’ll all miss you Alison.
Pam Clark
Bill and Alison were probably the first parents that we met after moving here almost 7 years ago and our daughters have grown up together. Kali has spent a lot of time at Sara's house and Alison and Bill have always been very welcoming and kind to her, often inviting her for dinner and sleepovers. Many times Alison and I discussed how proud of them we both were and we shared our thoughts and fears along the way as they became beautiful, young women.
Unfortunately, Alison and I had something else in common-chronic back pain. We both struggled on a daily basis to overcome the pain and learn to cope with it without allowing it to rule our lives. It was very comforting to have somebody to talk to that knew exactly how I felt and what I was going through. She was a very strong woman who was able to have a successful career and family life while having to deal with these problems.
Pam Klisures
It was our privilege to know Alison (Sara and Scott) while they lived in Rockhampton. We shared New Year and Christmas' together - I know that was one of Alison's favourite times of year.... we shared a love of the movies, and there wasn't one Oscars ceremony that we weren't batting emails back and forth about the winners and of course we enjoyed going to the movies together, sharing meals, talking food.
I remember her as a girl who strove to do her best, she expected nothing but the best of herself... as a young mum she stressed too much over trying to be the perfect mother, when we all struggle first time around.
She shared the love of the Harry Potter novels with our daughters, Sarah and Jane and was a terrific role model for them as a woman pursuing higher education.
Rosemary & Ian Pitcher
I think that Alison and I bonded over our shared love of Burmese cats. When I met Alison, John and I had two male Burmese cats (one chocolate, the other blue). It wasn’t long before Alison contacted the breeder and bought one of her own. The breeder was particular about who adopted her cats and you could not assume that she would sell you one of her babies. Alison was grateful that I had prepped her first – she passed the interview with flying colours and Buddy joined their family.
I assumed my role in life was to make Sara a little Aussie so I did things like I buy her clothes with motifs of vegemite jars and Arnott’s biscuits (NOT cookies – when you are in Australia) that she could wear with pride when she holidayed in the US.
In return Alison took it upon herself to educate me about American holidays and the traditional foods eaten to celebrate these occasions. These meals were always great fun and I have such fond memories of those times. I do remember one Thanksgiving where Alison realised that there was a line that no self-respecting Australian would cross. She had to almost handcuff her mother to STOP her from putting marshmallows onto the sweet potatoes. A dish that mixed lollies (candy to you folks) with vegetables was NOT something that a true-blue Australian would consider edible.
I really missed Alison and her family when they returned to the States and enjoyed reading her Christmas cards and emails over the years since. She was the first person I knew that went onto Facebook and it was through her encouragement that I started an account. I last saw Alison when she came out for her graduation.
My thoughts and prayers are with Sara, Bill, Scott and the rest of her extended family. Alison was a wonderful friend and she will be missed by all who knew her.
Jo Luck – friend, work colleague and fellow Phd student while Alison was at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, Queensland.
Although our time together was brief, I'll always remember Alison's laugh: her brassy, uninhibited, intelligent laugh. Irreverent humor sent her flying. The occasional obscure literary reference from a slightly pretentious “beer-buddy” would be greeted by a knowing twinkle in the eye.
Danny Mitchum
Amy (Alison) was my best friend growing up in Appleton, Wisconsin. We lived across the street from each other on Samson St. She was four and I was three. Her mother went across the street when they first moved there and introduced us to each other in hopes we would be friends. And we were friends from then on. We played at each other's houses and around the neighborhood all the time. When she moved to Madison, we still went to each other's houses in the summer and over winter break. I'd usually take the Greyhound bus. We rode bikes together, played with our stuffed animals, dolls, and played house. We especially loved to ice skate together. We skated on rinks and on lakes. We put on ice skating variety shows on Lake Winnebago where I lived at one point. We would spend the whole afternoon skating. Sometimes we would sneak out of the house at midnight like we were doing something wrong to go ice skate on the lake. Another thing we both loved were cats. When she was four her family took two of our pet cat Pounce's kittens, both gray and white and named them Sugar and Spice. She loved those kittens. I have a photo of her holding them. I think one of them ran away. When I visited Amy in Madison, I got to go to Madison West high school with her. I remember being in awe of how well she did in school and how much she was involved with, debate, Davitas water ballet, orchestra, playing first flute among other things. She excelled at everything she did. She also wrote excellent stories. I read two of them. Also when I was visiting her in Madison, Amy's mom Jeanne left us in the house for the day. She was worried we may get into trouble, who knows what we'd both get into. When she walked to the house on Hillington Way, she saw us cutting out paper snowflakes and hanging them in the window. She was relieved and thought it sweet that with all the things we could be doing, the innocent choice of making paper snowflakes is what we chose to do all afternoon. Growing up, Amy was like a member of our family. She would come with us when we went places. She liked visiting my dad's hometown of Whitehall where we would meet my other family members. She told me she liked being part of my happy family. The feeling of being part of a family was very important to her.
We were roommates in college for awhile at UW Madison and I worked with her at the French House a few days in Madison where she shared her knowledge of French cuisine. We sure had fun cooking for the house on Bastille day. She was the chef there at the house. When she and Scott lived in Miles City Montana, we visited her family. Sara was a little baby then. Amy and Sara visited us in Paoli when I had just my one daughter Sonya.
We just saw them recently on Bill and Amy Alison's wedding, and when they came out to visit us in Paoli. Bill and Alison chipped in right away to help with our summer party and cook out. They were one of the few who helped us. It was greatly appreciated. Both were very good visits. We enjoyed both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. Alison and Bill were very good together. Alison was finally very happy with her new husband and Bill's family who embraced her as a member of their own immediately. That meant so much to her.
The past couple of years have been busy. I have a three year old and a one year old with my husband of 6 years. Amy and I kept in touch with emails. It was a good way to stay connected. Amy also sent gifts for each one of our children, the last one for Claire was a stuffed bunny from the build a bear workshop that she and Sara went to. Claire sleeps with that bunny in her porta crib during every naptime. She loves it. When she's restless, or can't sleep, all she has to too is snuggle into the rabbit, have its ear over her eyes and she goes right to sleep. Thank you Amy for that special gift. I will always think of you when I see it.
Andrea Erickson Ziegler
I was in the HBA with Alison and Sara babysat for my children many times. I just wanted to share that Alison was one of the most warm and loving people that I have encountered in a long time. She was a good friend and truly cared about everyone that she came into contact with. She was a bubbly, vivacious person with an infectious smile and you couldn’t help but want to get to know her.
I’m sure that God has some great plans for her up in heaven and perhaps He wanted her organizational or analytical skills up there much more than here on earth. She will be truly missed!
Kris Sloman
We were at the Leadership Conference 2 years ago and it was just when Alison had joined HBA but we couldn’t tell anyone yet! We all gathered with the photographer impromptu and took a few shots on the “QT” for the HBA website. She kept saying how she didn’t want to have her picture taken, but we insisted. I remember putting a bit of lipstick on her (like I said, it was impromptu) and of ALL the pictures, Alison’s was the BEST! We kept teasing her and asked the photographer why he couldn’t make us look as good as she looked! It is a very happy memory for us and a gorgeous photo of her – a real keepsake.
Mary-Margaret Armstrong
A few years back I was a mentee in a group that Alison was mentoring for our Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association chapter. We would meet every few weeks at the Panera Bread cafe at Southpoint to discuss career stuff. At first it seemed like our group was made up of the corporate world misfits! It didn’t take us long, though, to figure out that our common thread was, not that we wanted to climb the corporate ladder or to make amazing advances in our careers, we were grouped together as those people who are not motivated by money and lofty titles. In our discussions, we learned that we all wanted to work hard and feel like our work was making a difference but, more importantly, we wanted to balance our career choices with our values and with our lives outside of work. I felt that we couldn’t have had a better mentor to guide us than Alison.
I remember Alison telling us about the precious few years she had left to spend with Sara while she was in High School and living at home. She really wanted to be there for Sara during those tough and trying High School years. Alison had made a conscious and determined decision to “dial back” her lifestyle so that she could afford to work a less demanding job that would allow her to spend wonderful quality time with Sara and Bill. I have learned, with Alison’s help, that earning a big paycheck and having that corner office usually comes at a price and that “dialing back” can make for a much more meaningful life.
Our mentoring group has been in touch since hearing the very sad news about Alison and we have to decided to get together soon to remember and honor our dear friend- at the Panera Bread café at Southpoint, of course.
Susan Lankford
I remember what Alison was wearing the first time I met her! She came to Health Management Strategies in Washington, DC, to interview for a data analyst position sometime in 1987 or 1988. She was wearing the same dress as me so we bonded instantly over our great taste in clothing!
Alison quickly moved from being an employee to being a treasured friend for me and my family. She bonded especially with my daughter, Kaitlyn –perhaps it was the cheesecake she brought over to help us celebrate Kaitlyn’s second birthday (a week after I had been in a fairly serious car accident).
By the end of 1989, both Alison and I were moving on to different places and no longer got to work together but we stayed connected. My husband John was offered a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin in Madison – Alison’s home town! John and I flew out to Madison one weekend that fall to find a house and Alison was there too, meeting us at the airport, showing us around Madison, and sitting with us at West Towne Mall as we anxiously waited to use the pay phone there (how times have changed) to find out if the sellers of our house would accept our offer!
Having Alison around as we settled into our new live in Madison was reassuring for us all, especially Kaitlyn. Alison even took Kaitlyn to see her first movie in a movie theatre – The Little Mermaid! Kaitlyn idolized Alison for this and many other reasons, and soon the two of them began dressing alike!
Alison passed on several toys and games from her childhood to Kaitlyn and her younger brother, Kevin. One of these toys was a little stuffed animal – a turtle. Kevin LOVED that turtle (to death), named Tiny Tim, and we were happy when Ty began making beanies babies with one of their first being a turtle who could replace the original Tiny Tim. This went on to be a lifelong fascination with turtles for Kevin … started by Alison!
Alison moved off to New Jersey and the land of Nabisco—we met up with her the following summer at Ocean City, NJ where John’s family vacationed every year. Alison and Kaitlyn had great fun on the boardwalk rides. Alison continued to manage to show up for key family events, like Kaitlyn’s 5th birthday in 1992. following year, Kaitlyn and I headed out on our first mother-daughter trip, to Montana to where Alison had moved. Unfortunately for us, when Alison made her next move (to Australia), we couldn’t swing a visit to see her there and so the times between our visits together grew further apart. We did, however, manage to meet up with Alison, and a very young Sara, at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, where Tickle Me Elmo had to be found and purchased for Sara!
When Alison moved back to the US, Kaitlyn and I finally reconnected with her and Sara again in North Carolina in 2004. Stuffed animals played a role in that visit too when we visited the then brand new Build-A-Bear store, to have “buddies” made for Sara and my then two highschool aged children! And yes, of course the only choice for Kevin was a turtle!
The next, and unfortunately, the last time I saw Alison was when she brought Bill to meet us in Madison in 2005. It was great to meet him and see her looking so happy.
So many wonderful memories of Alison that will stay with the Booske family forever. We are so sad that there won’t be any more to add to the list.
Rest in peace, A2 .
BCB, aka Bridget Catlin Booske
The text from Bridget was edited for the booklet.