Just before the holiday that helped make her famous, Alice Brock has died at 83.
The Alice in the title of folk singer Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” and the movie of the same name that followed was a well-known figure in Berkshire County for decades. Guthrie announced her death online, saying he first met her in 1962 when Brock was a school librarian in Stockbridge.
Guthrie’s song is played annually on Thanksgiving nationwide and is celebrated as an enduring anti-war anthem.
Brock told WAMC in 2014 that she didn’t always love the notoriety.
“I was very uncomfortable because public figures are not really treated with much respect,” she explained. “They really aren’t. Once your name is in the paper people feel that they can go; ‘Oh are you Alice?’ Turn around,’ like they want to see my behind or something. So I resented it for a long time, but I’ve come to realize now that people are just delighted when they hear my name, so how can I complain.”
Guthrie eventually bought the church that Brock and her husband owned during the events described in the song and established The Guthrie Center there. He says the Great Barrington venue will host a special exhibit celebrating Brock this Thanksgiving season.
