Alice Kephart McCanless died Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, after a brief stay at Merryvale Assisted Living in Oxford. She was 82.

She was the eldest daughter of Frank and Josephine Kephart of the Hanging Dog Community outside of Murphy, North Carolina. After returning from World War II, Frank opened a general store in the community and operated a converted school bus as a “rolling store” to serve people living on backroads. As a child, Alice helped care for the younger children and her elderly grandmother.

Sisters Sharon Kephart and Karen Twiss of Hanging Dog, N.C, survive her. Sisters Janice Payne and Sheila Phillips, brothers Harold and Merle Kephart, and her parents preceded her in death.

After high school, Alice moved to Atlanta to work as a secretary and married Ray Gilmer. Their two sons survive: Bryan Gilmer (married to Jennifer Nolan) of Durham, North Carolina, and Brandon Gilmer (married to Shannon Gilmer) of Peachtree Corners. Grandchildren Quinn Gilmer, Zoey Gilmer, Mina Gilmer, Emma Stinson, Whitaker Gilmer, and Ellison Nolan-Gilmer all survive Alice. Ray died in 1998.

For more than two decades, Alice was an executive assistant at Mobil-Tenneco-Pactiv in Covington. One day, Stuart McCanless, the retired plant engineer and an old work friend of Alice’s, stopped by the plant, and upon learning they were both now single, invited Alice out to lunch for Blimpie sandwiches. A romance began, and the couple were married six months later at Old Church in Oxford. This second marriage for each of them lasted more than 14 years.

Stuart survives Alice, as do stepsons Forrest McCanless (married to Laura McCanless), Brant McCanless (married to Carla McCanless), Philip McCanless (married to Violet Aguilar), and grandchildren Madeline McCanless, Cameron McCanless, Stella Mongkolkasetarin, Evelyn McCanless, Alex McCanless, and Dillon McCanless.

In retirement Alice took up artistic painting, at which she was talented and became quite skilled.

She was a faithful member at Zion Baptist Church and then Allen Memorial United Methodist. She died at peace expecting to be enveloped by God’s love, which she compared to a mother hen spreading its wings protectively over its chicks.

The celebration of life will be 2 p.m. Jan. 18 at Allen Memorial UMC chapel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the church, P.O. Box 117, Oxford, GA 30054 or to Southern Heartland Arts, Attn: Susan Wahl, PO Box 427, Social Circle GA 30025.