Alice Famico-Kenney, a licensed practical nurse who spent most of her career on the maternity ward at NSMC North Shore Children's Hospital, was both resourceful and talented.  "She had good values, she didn't like to see anything wasted," daughter Frances Grace said of her mother, who died Monday, July 7 in the Grosvenor Park Nursing Home in Salem.

Famico-Kenney became a nurse once her five children were raised. She took a Red Cross course and enjoyed it so much she decided to enroll in the Salem Hospital School of Nursing. She worked first in the hospital's emergency room, but most of her career was on the maternity ward at North Shore Children's Hospital. She worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift nearly all 30 years of her second career. She seemed to have a way with crying babies, and began sitting in a rocking chair on the ward to sing sick children to sleep. The rocker became so synonymous with Famico-Kenney that the ward staff presented it to her at her retirement party. It followed her to the nursing home, where she sat in it every day until transferring her from her wheelchair became too dangerous.

Knitting patterns

Before, during and after her night job, Famico-Kenney was dedicated to her real career, which is sometimes euphemistically referred to as, "handiwork." If it involved needle and thread, yarn or cloth, she was an accomplished master. Sometimes to the chagrin of her brood. She knitted all of her husband's socks, and matching argyle stockings and sweaters for the kids. "How I hated wearing those to school," daughter Betty Montoni remembered, smiling. Tucked into a box somewhere with all the other decorations that come out every Christmas, hundreds of Salemites have a personal permanent memento of Famico-Kenney, and they became her trademark calling cards: personalized Christmas stockings, the big ones kids hang on the mantle with dreams of finding them stuffed on Christmas morning.

Nineteen years ago, on her granddaughter's wedding day, Famico-Kenney had a massive stroke on the steps of the church and would require care the rest of her life. This was the first time she would be on the receiving end. She not only cared for hospitalized children over the years, she also provided in-home care for relatives for much of her life. "We always had a bed-ridden person in the house," Savy said. Alice Famico-Kenney was 93.

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