Obituary of Alice Jane Vartanian Richards Tomann

Alice Jane Vartanian Richards Tomann, 94, of Roanoke, VA, passed away peacefully on January 24, 2018 in Roanoke, VA. 

Alice was born September 5, 1923 in Johnson City, New York. She was the daughter of the late Karekin Sarkis Vartanian and Gladys Swart Vartanian. She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 33 years, Wilfrid Joseph Tomann (Bill); her brother, Karekin Vartanian, Jr. (Bud); beloved sister, Ruth Vartanian Carlucci; infant brother; and niece Ruthie Vartanian.

Alice was a loving and devoted mother to her four surviving daughters:  Caryl Jane Jarman, of Skaneateles, NY; Catherine Tomann Buchanan and husband, William Buchanan, of California, MD; Elizabeth Jane Tomann Lowy and husband, Tom Lowy, of Wayne, PA; and Susanna Tomann Chlipala and husband, Piotr Chlipala, of Breckenridge, CO. She is also survived by seven grandchildren: Kevin Buchanan, Michael Buchanan, Susanna Lowy, Natasha Lowy, Caroline Chlipala, Sophia Catherine Chlipala, and Jackson Chlipala. Additionally, Alice is survived by her brother, Edwin Vartanian, of Madison, CT, and many nieces and nephews. Special thanks to ReNay Guilliams, CNA, for her loving care provided over Alice’s last years in Roanoke.

Alice was a graduate of Scranton Central High School, Scranton Business College, and attended Syracuse University. She had a lengthy career with General Electric Corporation in Scranton, PA and Syracuse, NY, starting in personnel, advertising and sales, and later advancing to an Engineering Aide.  It was in Syracuse, supporting the GE Radar and Sonar Government Contracts Equipment Section, that she met and married Bill. She left GE in 1964 to raise her family.  With the family’s move to Roanoke, VA in 1975, Alice resumed her career as an Engineering Aide at ITT Corporation. She often said that her greatest joy and accomplishment was raising her children.

Alice loved dancing, golf, and was an avid bridge player and member of the Roanoke Bridge Club. Favorite hobbies also included reading, cooking, painting, and in her younger years, acting in regional theater. She loved animals and music; she was a member of the Roanoke Valley Chorale Society and sang alto in the St. Andrews Catholic Church choir for many years, as well as attending Our Lady of Nazareth church in later years. She was a self-taught piano player, learning to play in her seventies. She loved sailing on Smith Mountain Lake and cherished the many years spent each summer with Bill and the Tomann family at their camp on Skaneateles Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of New York.

Alice also loved to travel and toured the world with her husband Bill, her daughters, and friends, visiting various locations in the United States and Canada, as well as England, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Gibraltar, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Russia.

She was loved by many and we will miss her spirit, wicked sense of humor, and most of all, her love.

The family will receive guests on Saturday, February 3 after 9:00 AM at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 207 Hayes Ave, Endicott, NY 13760 followed by a Mass of Christian Burial, at 10:00 AM.  Graveside services will follow at Riverhurst Cemetery in Endwell, NY.

Flowers are thankfully appreciated; however in lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Mrs. Alice Tomann may be made to the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org) or Good Samaritan Hospice (www.goodsamhospice.org)

Simpson Funeral Home of Roanoke, VA, and Coleman & Daniels Funeral Home of Endicott, NY, assisted the family in making arrangements.