b. March 8, 1946

by Charles K. (Ken) McCotter, Jr., Christ Episcopal Church, New Bern, NC, 2016

Alice Graham Underhill has been a member of Christ Episcopal Church since August 1978, when she and her husband, Dr. T. Reed Underhill, moved to New Bern with their three children. Reed was joining the New Bern Urology Clinic, founded by Dr. Dale T. Milns, who was a pillar of the New Bern and Christ Church Community. Dale and his wife Jane made the Underhill family feel most welcome both in New Bern and Christ Church, and Alice became involved in the church as a relatively new Episcopalian.

Alice was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. She grew up in the First Baptist Church downtown, where she received a strong faith foundation. Alice was confirmed and received into the Episcopal Church before the birth of their first child in 1971. Her husband is a “cradle” Episcopalian, and Alice attended Episcopal churches in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with Reed during college and medical school, and she appreciated and loved the liturgy and services of the Church. Their three children, Reed, Jr., Laura and Graham were baptized by Father Charles Vache at Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Virginia, during their time in the U. S. Navy.

Alice became active in St. Margaret’s Chapter and the Episcopal Church Women. During the 1980s, she was involved in the creation and development of the award-winning cookbook, Pass the Plate, the Collection from Christ Church, with the help of many others in the church and the community. Over 70,000 copies have been sold to benefit the ECW and Christ Church outreach.

Alice served on the Vestry as Senior Warden during the transition period after the retirement of the Rev. Ed Sharp and the selection of the Rev. Bob Dannals and the Rev. Carolyn West at Christ Church. Alice also served as a delegate to the Diocesan Convention and as a member of the Commission on Ministry.

During the Dannals tenure, Alice, with the Rev. Carolyn West, Terry Brubaker, and Joy Dosher, attended Stephen Ministry training in Baltimore, Maryland, and instituted that program at Christ Church. About that same time, Alice helped the ECW start an annual cookie walk at Christmas. The Christ Church Cookie Walk remains an important fundraising tool for the ECW.

Alice has always had an interest in politics. She served on the New Bern/Craven County Board of Education from 1980-1984. She served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2001-2002 and 2005-2010, representing Craven and Pamlico Counties. She served on the North Carolina Education Lottery Commission from 2013 to 2017. She also served on the Tryon Palace Commission for fifteen years during the planning and building of the North Carolina History Center, and she is a board member of the Craven Literacy Council.

Alice serves on the Altar Guild. She finds all aspects of Episcopal Church life to be inspiring, educational and enlightening, but most of all spiritually uplifting. Service in Christ Church has brought Alice great joy and many blessings.