Obituary of Alice Ruth Malek Grover

No visitation Alice Ruth (Grover) Malek Alice Ruth Grover was born in Pateros, Washington (Okanogan County) on February 2, 1922. She was the only child of Cathern Elizabeth Demmitt and Herbert Peck Grover. Alice attended Pateros Grade School for 8 years. When she was old enough, she used to ride her pony to school since her parents had an orchard outside of town. Alice graduated from Brewster High School in May, 1939. When she entered high school, Alice was only 4ft 3 inches and was often affectionately teased about her short stature. She showed her classmates by growing a whole foot in high school! After high school, Alice decided to move to Seattle where she attended Metropolitan Business College from 1939 until her graduation in 1941. During this time, Alice became sweethearts with Gene Lewis of Tacoma. Their families had known each other and often visited back and forth. Alice and Gene married in June, 1941. They settled in Tacoma where Gene was employed by the Milwaulkie Railroad. In 1942, Alice became pregnant and she often told the story that she would take Gene to work and then stop and have a chili burger EVERY DAY during her pregnancy!! Herbert Grover Sweeting was born on January 9, 1943 (with a love for hamburger). He was born 6 weeks early and Alice said that it was because of the shock of her father being killed in an elevator accident at this time. This was devastating to Alice because she and her father were very close. Her father had always called Alice his "Muffet". Alice began her working career using her skills from business school after she and Gene divorced. Her final position was with the Eisenhower attorney group. It was here that Alice met Bert Sweeting of Meadowsweet Diary. They began dating and married in 1949. For the first year of their marriage, Alice and Bert did a lot of traveling before settling in a house on Steilacoom Lake. They lived there for several years before moving to Gravelly Lake Drive into a home that Alice helped design. It was shown in Better Homes and Gardens magazine in 1956. Around this time, Alice became interested in golf. She won the Tacoma Golf and Country Club championship in 1958 within two years of learning to play golf. During this time, Alice also joined the Daughters of the Nile and became Queen in 1961. Her installation was held at the UPS field house which was open to the public. Since childhood, Alice loved dancing and after several trips to Hawaii, she developed a love for Hawaiian dance and music. She studied with teachers in the islands and in Seattle. After her divorce from Bert, Alice moved to San Jose, California and opened a retail shop specializing in dance clothing and shoes. She also taught Hawaiian dance and she and her girls performed in many shows in the bay area. Some of her students went on to become teachers themselves and they still remember their beginnings with Alice. When it came time to retire, Alice decided to move back to the Pacific Northwest to be near family and friends. Her husband Frank Malek, a native Californian, agreed to give our climate a try. They both loved golf and so they bought a home on Capital City Golf Course. Alice's granddaughter Janessa was born a year after her return and her niece Ashley the year after that. Alice was so happy to be able to watch Janessa, her grandson Chris and Ashley grow up. She loved to have everyone come for holiday dinners. Alice was excited to renew her involvement with Daughters of the Nile at Zora Temple No. 5 in Tacoma. She divided her time between Nile, golf and she started teaching Hawaiian dance and gave performances in the Olympia area. In 1995, Frank died after a massive stroke. Alice was alone then until her own death. Despite her ever increasing breathing/health problems, she was determined to remain active in Nile and other activities. She realized her goal of independence up until this last year when her health rapidly declined. We thank all of you who visited, called or wrote Alice. It helped her so much to see or hear from you. We know that she is in a better place now and her suffering is over but there is a great emptiness without her. She was a truly remarkable woman.