Lottery winner Alice Fallon, 96, dies
An undated handout photo of Mary "Alice" Fallon. Credit: Handout
When Alice Fallon purchased a lottery ticket from a Queens convenience store and became an instant millionaire, her thoughts were far from materialistic.
Fallon, then 91, immediately started planning how she could share the $1 million prize with family and friends, including a group of elderly nuns from the former Sisters of Mercy convent in Brooklyn.
She ultimately divvied up the annual $44,000 payout among those close to her.
"She was the most remarkable woman," said a daughter, Susanne Blum, of Garden City. "She had this beautiful attitude and positive outlook on life."
Fallon died Aug. 15 of natural causes in her Breezy Point home surrounded by loved ones. She was 96.
Born April 27, 1916, in Brooklyn, Fallon graduated from Mercy Juniorate High School and worked as a secretary for Arthur Kudner Advertising Agency in Rockefeller Center until she had children and became a homemaker.
Religion was a focal point in Fallon's life.
In April 1941, Alice married a former high school classmate, Peter Fallon, at St. Patrick's Church on Willoughby Avenue, where both had been baptized and received the sacraments.
They raised their seven children near Little Flower Parish in Brooklyn, spending summers at a beach home in Breezy Point. The two moved there in 1975.
For years, Alice Fallon watched the sunset with her husband on the front porch of their Bedford Avenue home and often took strolls to do what her daughter called her favorite hobby: meeting and talking with people.
"She genuinely cared about every single person she met," Blum said. "She'd want to know about your mother, your father. And she'd remember it all."
A woman of "very deep faith," Fallon attended daily Mass at St. Thomas More Church in Queens, where she taught religious education, Blum said.
"She's somebody who truly enjoyed her life more than anyone I have ever known," said a son, Kevin Fallon of Holtsville.
Other survivors include children Peter of Queens, David of Rocky Point, Dennis of Breezy Point, Paul of Bedford Hills and Mary Reilly of Ridgewood; a brother, Philip Shea of Brooklyn; 20 grandchildren; and 9 great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband and siblings David Shea, Anne Reilly and Clare Petrie.
A wake will be held at O'Connor's Funeral Home in Rockaway Beach, with visiting from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. on Sunday. A funeral Mass is scheduled for Monday at 11 a.m. at St. Thomas More Church.
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