WASHINGTON, D.C. - Alice C. Plaisted, 101, died Saturday, June 7, 2008, at Knollwood Retirement Community, after an extensive career as a professional photographer. Mrs. Plaisted last exhibited her photos for U.S. Army officers and their spouses in 2004 at Knollwood, where she has resided since 2000.
Born Alice C. Pehlman on Feb. 13, 1907, in Springfield, she was the daughter of George Pehlman and Sarah Gwendolyn Davies. At the age of 12, she began learning the art of photography and photo processing while working at her uncle's photography store in Springfield.
Alice married Mark S. Plaisted in 1934. The two of them were avid equestrians while he was serving in the Illinois National Guard's cavalry unit in Springfield. Early in her career, Mrs. Plaisted's studies of children appeared in the rotogravure sections of newspapers in San Francisco and Chicago and were exhibited and won blue ribbons in London and Paris. In the 1950s, one of her photos won Kodak's annual national contest.
Mrs. Plaisted joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC) as a private in 1944, when her husband, then Lt. Col. Mark S. Plaisted, was deployed to Europe. After basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, she was assigned as photographer to the Army Air Force base in Pampa, Texas (Public Relations and Post Reproduction Center). There she used her professional photography skills for photo analysis of air accidents, taking portraits of top officers and providing photos for the media. One photograph she took shows Gens. Patton, Doolittle and Vandenburg after a strategic meeting at the Army Air Corps base in Amarillo, Texas. Her photos taken during and since World War II can be seen at the Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pa.
After the war, as a civilian, Mrs. Plaisted worked for 11 years for Eastman Kodak in Chicago. Then, as a research photographer with NASA at Moffat Field, Calif., she processed photos that showed which types of tiles could withstand re-entry conditions, and she took official pictures of the first monkey to be sent into space. When the Plaisteds moved to D.C., she was employed at the Pentagon, doing portraits of top general officers for press purposes. Mrs. Plaisted has been a member of The National Press Club for many years.
Mrs. Plaisted's husband, Mark S. Plaisted, retired from the Army as a colonel, later attaining the rank of brigadier general in the Illinois National Guard. Gen. Plaisted passed away in 1983 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Mrs. Plaisted will be buried at his side. There will be a memorial service at the Fort Myers Chapel this summer, the date to be determined.
Alice Plaisted is survived by her nephew, Benjamin P. Coe, and his wife, Margaret, of Watertown, N.Y.; niece, Donna Ruth Farrell, and her husband, Bruce, of Redwood City, Calif.; niece, Natacha Dykman of Pittsford, N.Y.; nephew, George Pehlman III, and his wife, Carol, of Houston; nephew, George P. Earley, and his wife, Edna, of Springfield; and a number of great-nieces and great-nephews, many of whom were very close.
Mrs. Plaisted was predeceased by her sisters, Grace Jacobs and Ann Earley, and brother, George Lawrence Pehlman.
State Journal-Register(Springfield, IL) - June 14, 2008
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1907 - 2008 (101 år)
