Alice Glessner, neighborhood activist, dies at 76

Fircrest — One of the grand dames of the Vancouver neighborhoods scene has gone on to that best-of-all neighborhoods. Alice Glessner died on Dec. 7 at age 76, according to the latest Fircrest Neighborhood Association newsletter. Glessner, who moved from West Vancouver to Fircrest in the late 1990s, kept busy with Vietnam Veterans of America, the Fort Vancouver community fireworks, the Fircrest board — whom she frequently treated to pizza or homemade zucchini bread — and countless picnics, tree plantings, cleanups and more. The Columbian featured Glessner in June 2008, after she’d phoned Cascade Middle School to congratulate the marching band on a win at the Portland Rose Festival; the band thanked Glessner back by marching past her home in full regalia, music blowing. Glessner, who hadn’t made it to the parade because of bad knees, said: “Of all the beautiful things in my life, this is at the very top.”