Alice Plitt Tomlinson, a former patient advocate and assistant nursing school director, died Friday of Parkinson's disease at Glen Meadows Retirement Community in Glen Arm. She was 83.
Alice Ownley was born in Moyock, N.C. Her father died when she was 7, and benefactors later provided the funds for her to travel to Baltimore and attend Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, where she graduated as a registered nurse in 1940, the year in which she married William P. Plitt. The two lived in Charles Village, and later moved to Hamilton and Northwood before settling in Timonium.
Mrs. Tomlinson worked at Sinai in various nursing and administrative capacities for 45 years. She was an emergency room nurse at Sinai for more than 20 years, said her daughter, Linda Yendall of Ellicott City. From 1968 to 1976, Mrs. Tomlinson recruited students for the Sinai Hospital School of Nursing.
Nursing students relied on her advice. "When they were sick, they always came to her," Mrs. Yendall said.
But Mrs. Tomlinson also had heavy family responsibilities. Her son Robert Douglas Plitt has cerebral palsy, and was placed in Rosewood Center, a facility for people with developmental disabilities, when he was 7 years old.
"They went for 40 years out to see him every week from their home in Timonium," said her son William B. Plitt of Arlington, Va. "I don't think they missed more than three or four weeks" in the time that Robert Plitt has lived at the center.
In 1978, the director of Sinai Hospital asked Mrs. Tomlinson to become one of the first patient advocates in the country, serving as a liaison between staff and patients, Mrs. Yendall said. She stayed in that role until she retired in 1985.
Mrs. Tomlinson was the subject of a Valentine's Day profile in The Sun in 1993.
After her husband died of cancer at Stella Maris Hospice Center in 1987, the then-Mrs. Plitt worked there as a volunteer. She met Warren Tomlinson at a training class in 1990.
During introductions, coincidences emerged: Mr. Tomlinson had married on the same date that Mrs. Plitt had; their spouses had both died of cancer; and Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Plitt had worked for Glenn L. Martin Co.
They married in 1991 and moved into the Glen Meadows Retirement Community in Timonium in 1997. Mr. Tomlinson died in January.
Mrs. Tomlinson was also active in the Rosewood Center parents' association and the Presbyterian Church. She was president of Kenwood Presbyterian's Women of the Church in Overlea and later served on the Board of Deacons at Faith Presbyterian Church.
She was dedicated to her flower garden, said William Plitt.
Mrs. Tomlinson would also find time to visit the sick, bearing a plant and dessert.
"Pineapple upside-down cake was a favorite sort of remedy she would bring to neighbors and friends," said her son.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at Faith Presbyterian Church, 5400 Loch Raven Blvd.
In addition to her two sons and daughter, Mrs. Tomlinson is survived by a sister, Margaret G. Ownley of Towson; a brother, David B. Ownley of Elizabeth City, N.C.; and four grandchildren.
Donations can be sent to the Sinai Nurses' Alumnae Association, c/o Holly Hoppenstein, 8606 Lugano Road, Randallstown 21133.