Obituary of Alice Constance Lenox

Alice Constance “Connie” Lenox, 88, of Freehold, passed away peacefully on Sunday, February 16, 2014 at CentraState Hospital surrounded by love and prayers. She was born in Bournemouth, England. During WWII, Connie worked as a nurse in the Women’s Royal Naval Service. It is as a nurse she met & married Wayne Whitlark from Olympia, Washington. They had one son, Laurie Whitlark, while Wayne was still stationed in England but soon after they moved to Washington State. A daughter followed, LindaLou Whitlark. Unfortunately that union didn’t last but while living in Tacoma, Connie met and married Roy Lenox, a WWII veteran and active Army paratrooper. Roy left the military instead of re-upping for Korea and since he was from New York, they moved back East. It was there that Connie joined BOAC, British Overseas Airways Corporation and stayed for 36 years. She initially worked as a telephone operator. This was back when a call was placed by someone, the telephone operator answered the call, took a physical line and plugged it into a hole in a switchboard where the appropriate people would actually answer the customer. Connie went on to work at East Side Terminal at JFK Airport handling passengers as they arrived to check-in. Eventually, she went back to working with communications and rose to a level in the company that women did not achieve, her official title was Supervisor of All Communications for British Airways North America. Roy & Connie welcomed their daughter, Alison, in December 1964 and the family was complete. In 1972, Roy, Connie & Alison relocated to Freehold, NJ. Through the years, Connie has taken all the wonderful lessons she learned and made them part of her daily life. She learned to can peaches, pears, tomatoes and make incredible jams while living in Washington State and loved to make her wonderful preserves during the summer and fall to give away to family and friends. Connie adored flowers and loved sitting in her kitchen, looking out onto her English-style garden filled with roses, pansies, marigolds, and peonies. Connie loved to take road trips. While Roy was alive, they would frequently visit relatives in Florida and North Carolina but also drive up to Maine and the beautiful seaside town of Bar Harbor. When Roy passed away in 1990, Connie kept up the trips, driving all by herself to all different places in New Jersey and up and down the East Coast. She thoroughly enjoyed going on adventures, her daughter, Linda and son-in-law, Rick, took her on cruises and across the country. Daughter, Alison and son-in-law, Christopher took up the reins and took her many times to Walt Disney World, a very favorite place of Connie’s. She was a member of the DBE, Daughters of the British Empire, even starting her own chapter in Freehold. She was currently part of the Cornwall Chapter along with her daughter, Alison. Connie was a warm, loving, kind soul that brightened any room she entered. Her wonderful, mischievous giggle made everyone she came in contact with smile and fall in love with her. “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” She is survived by her son, Laurie Whitlark, her daughter & son-in-law, Linda & Richard Porcelli, her daughter and son-in-law, Alison & Christopher Normand and her beloved Chihuahua, Max. All services will be at the First Assembly of God, 272 Jackson Mills Rd, Freehold Township, NJ 07728. Visitation will be on Thursday, February 20th between 2-4pm and 7-9pm. The funeral service will take place on Friday, February 21st at 11:30 am. Interment will follow at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery, Wrightstown, NJ. A celebration of Connie’s life will be held back at the church for friends and family. Since Mommy loved flowers, arrangements are welcome or donations can be made to the American Cancer Society.