'Elegant And Visionary' Mary Alice Lambert Dies At 92
PLAINFIELD, IL — Mary Alice Lambert, a longtime fixture of the Plainfield community, died July 18. She was 92.
“Mom was complicated and complex and … she was elegant and visionary but always down to Earth,” her son, Michael Lambert, told Patch. “I think that sums her up in a lot of ways.”
Known by many as the owner of the Tawny Tortoise, which was at 24012 W. Lockport St. for over 30 years, Mary Alice’s legacy touches a multitude of facets of life in Plainfield.
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Born on Sept. 24, 1931, in Joliet, she was the last surviving member of the Plainfield High School Class of 1949, of which she was valedictorian and one of the staffers to create the first edition of The Plainsman yearbook for Plainfield schools.
She and her former husband used to operate Lambert Airfield and started “The Meeting Place,” a conglomerate of more than a dozen specialty shops. In the creative realm, she was a successful seamstress who won awards from the Illinois State Fair for her creations.
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“Mom’s favorite scripture passage is there is a time and a purpose to everything, Ecclesiastes 3,” Michael said, “and I think what she was doing at any one moment, what she was putting her heart and passion into, is what she loved the most at that time. It might’ve only been what she was doing for 20 minutes or for 20 years, but what she was doing at the time was what she chose to do and what she loved to do at that time.”
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Mary Alice was also one of the driving forces behind Plainfield Fest and the downtown Plainfield’s Plymouth Congregational Church. She was co-chairperson of the first-ever Plainfield Fest in 1982, and barely two decades before that, she was one of the active charter members who founded the Plymouth Congregational Church in 1963.
“They were the first co-chairs [of Plainfield Fest], and they were really proud that a lot of those little town festivals lost money their first year, and they ended up with a very small — I think $13 — profit when it was all said and done,” Michael said.
Her son said she was happy to see Plainfield Fest return this summer after a year-long hiatus. Although she couldn’t make it to the festival itself, she listened to bands perform from her back porch.
Before officially retiring at the age of 88, Mary Alice operated two gift shops in Plainfield for 32 years. Contemporary Cuisine opened in 1986 and later transformed into The Tawny Tortoise. The gift shop closed in 2021, marking the business owner’s retirement.
“She enjoyed her gift shop; she made friends with so many people who came in and out of her store,” Michael said. “She loved when the kids would come in or when parents … would come spend a long afternoon at the store, going through things and reminiscing about the things she had.”
RELATED: Obituary: Mary Alice Lambert, Longtime Plainfield Business Owner
“She was more interested in people and what they were doing with their lives than she was with material things, typically,” Michael said. “I learned from her that success is measured not merely in how much wealth you accumulate, but in how many lives you touch and what you do for your community. I think that’s probably her legacy. She was no wealthy woman, but she touched a lot of lives and did a lot for the Plainfield community.”
Visitation for Mary Alice will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at Overman-Jones Funeral Home, 15219 S. Joliet Road in Plainfield. A second visitation will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, preceding a memorial service at 11 a.m. at the funeral home.
In place of flowers, donations may be made in Mary Alice’s name to the Plainfield Historical Society or Lightways Hospice in Joliet.
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