Alice Scialdone

Alice Frazier Scialdone, 96, passed peacefully in Gulfport, Mississippi on May 19, 2024. She was born February 24, 1928, to James L. Johnson and Willa Hazel Fraizer in Rockvale, Tennessee.

Alice’s life was shaped by the dramatically different environments in which she was immersed. Her early childhood occurred in rural Tennessee during the height of the Great Depression. She learned to contribute to the family’s farm, their only source of food; to educate herself by reading “any scrap of paper” she could find; and to determine right and wrong from her strict protestant upbringing and the time spent with her grandfather, a constable who often faced danger alone and taught her how he made peace with his decisions. This background influenced Alice’s personality as she was known for her steely disposition and blunt delivery of opinions. From her childhood, she also brought forward a lifelong pursuit of organic gardening and herbal medicine. It was mostly pointless to take her to a doctor as she would try to teach rather than listen but, to her credit, she also lived nearly a century free of chronic illness. 

Alice’s life changed dramatically in her early teen years. She was sent by her family to continue primary education in Chicago and then New York City, where the arts flourished. She then developed talents in fine art, principally working in oil paintings of still life, land and seascapes, and abstract expressionism. These talents defined her early adult years when she lived in France, Spain, and Italy and became fluent in their languages before returning to the U.S. She established art studios in Paris and New Orleans where she held commercial showings for approximately 10 years before focusing on restoration of antique works in oil on canvas. Her restorations included the portrait of Ann of Austria at Gallier Hall and The Assumption of Christ at the New Orleans Museum of Art. She was also one of the first women members of the New Orleans Chess Club. In 1967, she along with her then husband, Gino Scialdone, moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Gino arranged for shipping operations of the Standard Fruit Company to be based in Gulfport. In the aftermath of Hurricane Camile, the family moved to Lyman, Mississippi and added an art studio to their new country home where she remained the rest of her life, bringing her full circle to rural living.

Alice was preceded in death by sisters Virginia Johnson, Pat Johnson, Thelma Johnson Hodes, and Marie Johnson Atwood; husbands Isidro Pazos de More, Albert Kirst, George Tanquerey, and Luigi “Gino” Bartolomeo Scialdone; grandsons Eric Isidro Bienvenu and Christopher John Luigi Scialdone; and son-in-law, Patrick L. Leblanc.

Alice is survived by her brother Fred ”Buster” Johnson; children Kathy Pazos Bienvenu Wilcox (husband Lionel), Nilde “Maggie” Scialdone Dannreuther (husband James Chris), Jennifer Scialdone Piccione Leblanc, and John Anthony Scialdone; grandchildren Tamara Cobb (husband David), Paloma R. Stephenson (husband Wm. Monroe Stephenson III), Michael “Charles” Piccione, Jr. (wife Michelle), John Mario Piccione, Melissa Denise Passman, Stephen Dale Passman, and Laura Scialdone; great grandchildren Sierra Davis, Byron Sebastian Reyes, and Julian Alexander Reyes; and great-great granddaughter Madeline Davis. 

The family wishes to thank April Hudson and her staff (Cassandra Moore, Debra Beaver, Garrah Pigford, Susie Gaines, and Tina Jones) for the loving care they provided to Alice and the staff at St. Joseph Hospice 

A private service will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2024.  

Riemann Family Funeral Home, Gulfport is assisting the family.  Please leave a special message for the family.