Alan Ellis Symonds, beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather, died in his sleep on Oct. 4. He was 94.
Alan was a brilliant, adventurous, kind, generous and deeply loving man who lived a remarkable life.
While still a student at Harvard, Alan married his first wife, Helene, with whom he had three children, Amy, Stephen and Jane. After Helene’s tragically early death, Alan found love again with Patricia, who had three children of her own, Susan, Karen and Deborah. They married in 1967 and the next year welcomed a son, Alan Jr., completing a large, loving blended family.
They would spend the next 51 years together, partners in a life filled with family, friendship, travel and adventure, until Pat’s death in 2018.
Upon his graduation from Harvard in 1955, Alan joined his father and brother who worked at Quaker Fabric Corporation in Fall River. In the early 1960’s, he and his brother purchased the company and led it together until his brother’s death in 1965. Alan then served as Quaker’s CEO and chairman until he sold the company and retired in 1989.
Alan and Pat shared a remarkable curiosity about people and places. When Pat returned to college in her 40’s, Alan was her biggest supporter, and he remained so as she went on to become an accomplished anthropologist and professor at Brown University. They traveled throughout Europe, Africa and Asia including extended periods in Thailand. They immersed themselves in the places and cultures they visited, often locales far removed from usual tourist routes. They returned home with fascinating stories, which Alan — an unrivaled raconteur — could tell for hours, mesmerizing his audience.
He was a respected and beloved member of several communities: Providence, R.I., Edgartown, Cuttyhunk and more recently Useppa Island, Fla.
Alan loved the ocean. He was an avid boater, a competitive sailor and a determined fisherman and lobsterman. He was a member of the Edgartown, Cuttyhunk and Useppa Yacht Clubs and was happiest aboard a boat sailing Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay or Pine Island Sound.
After many summers on Martha’s Vineyard, he sailed to Cuttyhunk, a curious little island he had noticed on the charts for years, and quickly fell in love with its rugged beauty, authenticity and strong community. Cuttyhunk became his new summer home for more than 30 years and a gathering place for four generations of our family.
Family remained at the center of Alan’s world throughout his life. Predeceased by his wives and his eldest daughter, Susan, Alan leaves behind six children, four grandchildren (Marco, Amelia, Hannah and Lila) and three great grandchildren (Samantha, Lily and Bo).
We will miss his intelligence, generosity, appetite for adventure and the enormous presence he had in our family. We are fortunate to have known him and eternally thankful for the life he built for himself and for us. His devotion to family, capacity for friendship and love of the sea are treasures that will live on through the generations.
To the many people who loved Alan over his 94 years: thank you. We know how much your friendship and love meant to him and we are deeply grateful for the life you shared with him.Plans for burial in Providence and for celebrations of his life on Cuttyhunk and Useppa are forthcoming.