Alice Ellebry passed away on August 22, 2026, in New Haven, Connecticut, at the age of 60. She was a beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and friend. To say her life was hard would be an understatement, but to say it was only hard would be to miss the point of her entirely.

Born October 30, 1965, at Fordham Hospital in the Bronx, Alice was the seventh child of the late Nora and John Ellebry. She attended P.S. 79, Joseph Wade Junior High School, and Taft High School before life pulled her in other directions.

Alice faced more adversity than most of us will ever know. The heaviest weight she carried was her separation from her five children, a decision made out of necessity in the hardest stretch of her life. She never stopped grieving it, and she never stopped loving them. Though those early years couldn't be given back, she held on to the connection where she could, and in later years, her children would visit her at the nursing home. Her bond with her daughter Dominique ran especially deep, built over the years through countless phone calls that carried them both through. Her children were her pride and her joy, and she delighted in every hour they spent together.

In 1994, Alice married Robert Lee Barcliffe. Though their paths later parted, he remained part of her story.

Alice had a quick mind and a will nobody could bend. Some called that headstrong. Those who loved her called it what it really was: a refusal to be erased.

In her final years, kidney failure brought her to dialysis three times a week. She never pretended to like it. She went anyway, grinning and bearing it, right up until the end, because it meant more days with the people she loved.

At Leeway, Alice found both care and a stage. She was its social butterfly, the one everyone knew. She loved a good hand of spades, a sharp game of pool, and above all, good food. And whenever “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan filled the room, Alice was the first one up. But for all her love of a crowd, she also had a quieter side: a peculiar soft spot for Law & Order reruns, never missing one no matter how many times she’d seen it.

Alice was preceded in death by her parents, John Ellebry of Dillon, South Carolina, and Nora Ellebry of Whiteville, North Carolina; her brothers, John Ellebry Jr., Larry Ellebry, and Ernest Lee Davis; and her beloved son, Gregory Brown.

She is survived by her brother, Jose Ellebry of the Bronx; her sisters, Genean Tyrrell of West Haven, CT, and Gloria Ellebry of Florida; her son, Randy Turner of Connecticut; her daughters, Dominique Turner of Brooklyn, Elizabeth Ray of Far Rockaway, and Rosalie Jennings of Texas; and her sons-in-law, Lamoy Ray and Malik Jennings.

She is also survived by her grandchildren, Jaiden, Ray, Baby Girl Turner, Justice Turner, Xavier Johnson, Harmony McKinney, Destiny McKinney, and Taleah Claiborne, and a host of loving family and friends.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2026 at 3:00 PM at Curvin K. Council Funeral Home, 128 Dwight St., New Haven. Family and friends may attend a viewing from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Interment of Alice’s cremated remains will take place at George Cemetery in Whiteville, North Carolina, at a future date. 

Rest well, Alice. The music is still playing, and somewhere, it’s dancing time.