Alison Michener

Alison A. Michener

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain:

If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain, or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.

~Emily Dickinson

Remembered By Her Friends And Family

"I know we all love her more than life and I know that one of
the ways I keep her here is by allowing her to guide and inspire me, I
think back to the last few days and I know she gave me powerful
strength to be able to keep on and try to do what I could, whenever I do
anything I think of what she would want me to do and how she would
want me to do it and I know I always will let that be my compass.”

“As you know, Alison is one of those people you love from the
start. In Tasmania, we had really just met, but there was so much to
talk about that we stayed up late into the night. People assumed we had
been friends for years (and I wish we had), but that's just the way
Alison is -- her connection to people is immediate and passionate.”

“Alison was so easy to love, and such a fun-loving, sweet-
natured, caring, and patient friend, and we were all the best of friends
with her after knowing her just a short time. Right now, in my mind, I
just can't get a hold of this fact, and it seems so unjust that such a wo-
nderful person would be taken away, but it is also a comfort to know that
she is one of the few people I know that truly loved and lived life to the
fullest.

“I've been looking through some old photographs with all of us
in them, and I can't help but think of all the memories the four of us
shared since freshman year. I will keep it with me to comfort and
remind me that she is in a good place. You haven't lost your other half.
Alison will always be with you and all of us. She would never leave us."

"I could go on and on about all of Alison's great qualities. She
was a person of the highest caliber. I'm sure you saw that in college, but I
was always impressed how in high school, she always treated everyone with
respect, even people who other people didn't think were that cool. I'm sure
you know Alison was pretty well-known for transcending the color barrier
at our school. There wasn't a whole lot of serious mixing going on. but
Alison was above all of that. That to me says a lot about her."

“She was so special, always with a smile on her face, always an
optimist…She just had a zest for life, always so considerate and kind, she
just knew the perfect things to say at the right time, especially when someone
was sad.”

“Alison was just a person that above all things I knew I could
count on for anything, who amazed me in so many ways, and I'm trying to
hold onto this now. I wish so many things right now, that cannot be, but I
want you to know that I will always carry her with me, and you both as
well. Alison was a strong person; she knew who she was, what was right,
that she was so smart and kind of heart- she was comfortable in this knowl-
edge because of the love of both of you. There are so many fond memories
that come to me now, how she was always willing to share her food when the
kitchen was looking bare, to give anyone a ride somewhere if they needed it,
to talk about anything, to help with the computer or anything else the rest of
us found incomprehensible, and to laugh with you. Her laugh was one that
I found so loving and warm, it really made me feel so happy when I could
make her laugh."

Biography

Alison Michener, age 21, died while pursuing her passion for
adventure on the Rio Vilcanota, approximately 150 kilometers southeast of the
city of Cusco, Peru. Born in Denver, Colorado, she lived there for six years,
frequently enjoying the majesty of the Rocky Mountains. In 1990, the family
moved to Arcadia, California, where Alison grew increasingly active in both
school-related and extracurricular activities. She proved an exceptionally
talented high school student, garnering a perfect GPA and receiving National
Merit Scholar designation. As the college years approached, she scoured the
country, personally visiting nearly twenty of the nation’s top colleges and
universities in order to find that sometimes elusive “best fit.” As it turned out,
Brown University, the seventh oldest school in the land, was just the place for
her. She blossomed in Providence, making life-long friends right off the bat,
exploring challenging coursework, often outside her “safety zone” of applied
mathematics and the biological sciences, volunteering as teaching aid in the
Science Outreach Program, and promoting women’s participation in
mathematics and science through the WISE program. Alison was to receive
an Sc.B. in biology next month and she was writing a senior thesis on bacteria
populations in marine waters under the guidance of Professor Jennifer Hughes.
She had hoped to purse a career in the medical sciences and applications to public
health policy formulation and implementation.

Remembering You Always