The onetime president of A. E. Alie & Sons in Portsmouth is remembered as a skilled craftsman
R. Normand Alie (pictured), who served as president of A. E. Alie & Sons from 1968 until his retirement in 2002, died on June 21. He was 94.
According to details in an online obituary, Alie attended the University of New Hampshire and the Gemological Institute of America. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, he joined his father and brother in the family’s retail jewelry business in Dover, N.H. Alie had many talents and worked as a gemologist, jewelry designer, bench jeweler, watchmaker, and hand engraver. A former employee who added condolences to the online memorial called him a “skilled craftsman” as she witnessed him engrave her wedding band during employment.
Alie also loved sports as much as he did the jewelry industry, having played golf and tennis and acting as a lifelong spectator of the UNH men’s hockey team. Alie earned recognition as a Certified Gemologist and Registered Jeweler with the American Gem Society and held the title of director of Jewelers of America, president of the NH Retail Jewelers Association, president of the Diamond Peacock Club in Boston, and was a member of the Boston Jewelers’ Club and the New England Guild. He was called upon to testify on behalf of industry before the U.S. Senate committees on small business precious metal marking requirements.
Alie’s first wife A. Bernardine O’Kane, with whom he raised seven children, died in 1988. Eleven years later he married Catherine Lynch. Alie is survived by Lynch, seven children, one brother, 19 grandchildren, and 18 great grandchildren, among other family members.
Calling hours will be today from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Wiggin Purdy Funeral Home at 655 Central Ave. in Dover. Funeral services will be held on June 24 at 11 a.m. at St. Mary Church on Chestnut Street in Dover.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or to the charity of one’s choice in lieu of flowers.
(Photo courtesy of A. E. Alie & Sons)
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