Foxie

“Foxie”

Costa Mesa Area Youth Program Pioneer

Alice Fox Ward, a pioneer in the formation of many youth programs in the City of Costa Mesa and surrounding areas, died on August 27, 2009, at the age of 90. She would have celebrated her 91st birthday on August 29, 2009.

“FOXIE” Original Professional Staff of the Orange Coast YMCA

In October of 1952, Alice was hired as the part-time Program Coordinator for the Orange Coast YMCA. Eventually this part-time job turned into a full-time job. Alice pioneered the YMCA Day Camp Program using the Orange County Fair Grounds. She directed Girls’ Resident Camping at Camp Osceola in the San Bernardino Mountains for 20 years. She was a YMCA White Ragger and led a committed Christian life. After a brief hiatus from the YMCA, during which her family hosted an American Field Service Student from France and she taught at Happyland Pre-school, she returned to the YMCA. She was active and contributed to the Capital Fund Campaign that built the Orange Coast YMCA Building. She pioneered Girl’s Gypsy Caravan camping, took sixteen delegations to YMCA Youth and Government in Sacramento; coordinated Tri-Hi-Y and Hi-Y programs which involved over 800 young people a year, in seventh through twelfth grades; was President of the Y’s Menettes, and pioneered the Indian Maiden Program. Upon Alice’s retirement from the Orange Coast YMCA, the unprecedented award of “Woman of the Decade,” was bestowed upon her.

She was born in Miloma, Minnesota, a tiny hotel and café at the junction of the Milwaukee and Omaha railroads, to Malcom and Della Reynolds. The eldest of three daughters and a son, she lived briefly in Spooner, Wisconsin, and Rock Rapids, Iowa, and was raised in Worthington, Minnesota, where she was an active student at Worthington High School. She joined her family after their move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and met and married Francis Roy Fox. Their early married years spanned World War II.

In 1947, Alice and Roy moved their family, now including son, Don, and daughter, Mary Alice, to California, settling in Costa Mesa. In the summer of 1951, Alice and Mrs. Gary Fredrickson conducted a volunteer recreation program at the Costa Mesa Park. The Kiwanis Club donated $10.00, and the women from the community volunteered time to supervise. The “Globe Herald,” a weekly newspaper, gave a column a week for the purpose of educating the public on the need for supervised recreation. The next summer, the Parks and Recreation Program for Costa Mesa became a reality.

Alice was on the cusp when it came to mothers having a career. As a wife and mother of two, she pursued her education at Orange Coast College. This was in the days when classes were held in the former Army barracks. She not only earned her Associate in Arts Degree in 1952, she was President of the Associated Women Students; Editor of the Barnacle, the school’s newspaper; and played in the marching band. She earned a scholarship to Long Beach State, but her education was pleasantly interrupted with the birth of her third child, a son, Dennis.

Alice was a Den Mother for the Cub Scouts in 1951-1953, and attended the Scout Jamboree on Irvine Ranch (the current location for Fashion Island) in 1953. She was a Girl Scout Leader in 1954-1956. In 1952 she chaired the meeting that gave birth to the Girl’s Club and was an active mother in the Boy’s Club. In the early years of the Boy’s Club, the Orange Coast YMCA and the Boy’s Club cooperated in sponsoring several “Sock Hops” to fill the need that young people had to get together.

While pursuing her career she was active and served as President in both the Business and Professional Women’s Club and Zonta International. Alice filled the role