Alice Karlsen Mary

Mary Alice Karlsen, age 81, of Yale Farm Road, passed away at Geneva General Hospital on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, following a brief hospitalization.

The family will receive friends from 4:00 to 7:00pm on Monday, February 6, 2017 at Covert Funeral Home, 7199 So. Main Street, Ovid. A Memorial Service will be held at Mount Green Cemetery in Romulus at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that donations in Alice❜s memory be directed to Varick Volunteer Fire Department, 4682 Route 96A, Geneva, NY 14456.

Alice was born on August 23, 1935 in Romulus, a daughter of the late George and Mary (Crisfield) Updyke. She was a 1953 graduate of Romulus High School and on June 19, 1954, she married Holger T. ‶Junior″ Karlsen. Alice had worked at Romulus Central School for 14 years, in the cafeteria and drove bus for special needs students. During the period of 1969 to 1978 she and her family operated a snowmobile business, and for more than 60 years, they operated the Karlsen Family Farm, raising cash crops, beef cattle, Belgian Draft Horses and other exotic animals and birds. She had been a childhood member of the Fayette Presbyterian Church and was a founding member of the Varick Volunteer Fire Dept. Auxiliary. Over the years, Alice and Junior enjoyed a wide variety of interests; such as, local DIRT track and NASCAR racing, restoring antique John Deere tractors and gardening. She and Junior also enjoyed many years of travelling.

She is survived by her six sons, Thomas (Michelle) of Romulus, William (Debbie) of Ovid, Curt (Donna), Mike (Diane), Karl, Kris (Jackie) all of Romulus and a daughter, Loretta Morehouse of Hubert, NC; seventeen grandchildren, ten great grandchildren, a sister, Norma Jean (Art) Harriman of Florida and brother in law, Charles Alger of Romulus and sisters in law, Janet Bailey of South Carolina and Norma Karlsen of Texas. Alice was preceded in death by her loving husband of 56 years, Holger T. ‶Junior″ in 2011; a grandson, Levi Karlsen; a great grandson, Riley Ressis; a sister, Janet Alger; a son in law, Ken Morehouse and daughter in law, Christine Karlsen.