Alice Loy Wise Harder, 1920–2009

Alice Loy Wise was born on 30 April 1920 in St. George’s Apartments on Olive Street in St. Louis, Missouri, while her three older siblings were in the next room. Alice was the fourth and youngest child of George Franklin Wise and Bertha Abigail Loy Wise. The family lived for a short time on Dixon Street, then on Clara Avenue, renting from the Madden family. They next lived on Cote Brilliant Avenue near Wellston in a flat they rented from Jacob Lauber and his wife, who lived in an adjoining flat. From the Lauber flat, the family moved to a house on Oakwood Avenue in Pine Lawn, and from there they moved to the house built by the Wise family at 8913 Flavia Avenue in Ramona Park. Alice attended Kinloch School in St. Louis County for her elementary education, except for third grade, when she went to Elim Lutheran School in Ramona Park.

When Alice was fourteen years old, she traveled alone by train to Eagle Rock, California, to help her older sister, Anna Marie Wise Bueltmann, who was ill following the difficult delivery of her first child, Faith. While living in Eagle Rock, Alice attended her first year of high school. Alice’s sophomore year was at Normandy High School in St. Louis County, Missouri. She completed high school at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Missouri.

On 16 June 1940, in Berkeley City, St. Louis County, Alice married Homer Lucius Harder, (6 January 1919–30 January 1992) son of William Lucius Harder and Martha Jane Cope. In the April 1940 census, Homer is listed as a lodger at the home of Alice’s parents. After their marriage, Alice and Homer lived at the Flavia Avenue address with Alice’s parents for a few years. The 1950 census shows they lived at 4928 Berthold Lane with Homer’s parents. Alice and Homer had four children: Alice Joy, Homer Lucius “Bud,” Linda Loy, and Kathleen Ann. All four children were born in St. Louis.

Later in 1950, they moved to Alton, Illinois, where Alice had success with her business, Mrs. Harder’s Cake Decorating Supplies. Alice was well known in Upper Alton for the splendid cakes she decorated. She also enjoyed singing, crafts, and performing skits. She was very creative and artistic, with a captivating personality and whimsical sense of humor.

In the 1980s, dressed in appropriate period clothing, Alice, Homer, their son Bud and various grandsons, demonstrated eighteenth century root beer brewing and bottling methods at Alton’s Heritage Days and at other historical celebrations around the country. The Harders were active members of the Upper Alton Baptist Church and deeply involved in many activities there. Alice died in Jacksonville, Illinois, on 4 February 2009.

Written by Faith Stern
May 2025

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