Alice Handel's Grave
Back in November 2009 I wrote an article for The Riverside Review about Alice Handel who, at the age of 35, began selling homemade ice cream from her husband’s gasoline station in Youngstown, Ohio. She later moved her operations to a nearby alley and continued working in her small ice cream stand well into her seventies. The public loved Alice’s flavors and her reputation grew over the years. Many will tell you that it is the best ice cream in the world. Today there are 34 Handel’s Ice Cream Stands in six states all selling Alice’s secret recipe. July 29, 2010 will be the 100th anniversary of her birth. She died on Mother’s Day in 1988. Her husband preceded her in death 31 years earlier.
On the afternoon of December 4, 2009, I went looking for Alice’s grave in the Calvary Cemetery whose entrance is located at the intersection of Belle Vista and Mahoning Avenues in the City of Youngstown. The Fox Funeral Home records provided the grave’s location; it being Section two, lot 246, and near the cemetery entrance. When I arrived at the cemetery I found her tombstone had been toppled and only recently restored to its upright position. The face of the monument was covered with wet mud and had to be wiped clean before a picture could be taken. The inscription on the tombstone reads Rest in Peace.
It is obvious that Alice was not resting in peace. Why was her tombstone the only one in the vicinity that was disturbed? Was Alice trying to hide so that I couldn’t find her? This will probably remain a mystery. If you like mysteries, I have another one coming soon that you might be able to solve. It is called: “Who built Poland’s cairn?”