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- Alliene graduated from Hood College in 1915. She was a missionary to Japan, sailing for Japan in September 1921 to teach English in the Girl's School in Sendai, Japan. She was a newspaper reporter and editor. Her last major job was as Editor of the Kutztown Patriot, Kutztown, PA, at that time a weekly paper. This was in the 1950s and 60s. At one time, about 1940, she lived in the Fleetwood Hotel while she was a reporter for the Patriot. Alliene's one marriage lasted only a short time. Jim Long once visited there for a weeks stay and got measles. He remembers a period of delirium during the sickness. They decided to cut the stay short and took him home to Fleetwood, a trip that mother, Mary, felt should not have been taken. Alliene was an opinionated lady, very proud, a 'know-it-all', and a snoopy and embarrassing person to be around. However, those were the qualities that made her the great news reporter that she was. Alliene probably was not a very lovable, warm person for her husband. She was never without her pencil and paper, always ready to record a new incident or interview. She is the author of three books, two of which were 'Down Oley Way' and 'I Came This Way'. Niece Louise Long Banick illustrated at least one of Aunt Alliene's books which were wonderful personal insights into the personalities of the Pennsylvania Dutch people. She was a great story teller. She was a great Camp Mensch Mill proponent and supporter, and spent many months there. At her request, her ashes were spread on Vesper Hill at Camp Mensch Mill by sister, Mary, and her niece and nephew, Louise and James Long. Alliene spent several last years in a nursing home at Topton, PA, a town not too far from Kutztown. She was incapacitated and bed ridden for her last three years, unable to recognize anyone, even her only living family member, sister Mary DeChant Long.
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