Genevieve Alcott Causse

‘Geni’ Causse, longtime resident of Darien, Connecticut, passed away on August 9, aged 82. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the eldest child of Anna Rawson and Royal Blakeley Alcott. She attended public schools and Holland Hall  private school before getting her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater. Soon after, she worked at Rockefeller research center in New York City, Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut, and later at Upjohn in Kalamazoo, Michigan, before returning to the East Coast and marrying her late husband André Causse, of Darien, where they lived at 5 Weeds Landing.

Geni as a teenager loved classical music and saved up money to buy herself a record player. Occasionally she allowed her younger sister and brother, Mary and Blake, to play their rock-n-roll 45s on the turntable after school. She later became an accomplished piano player and loved the sound and look of clavichords. With Blake, she and Andy later attended several classical concerts at the Tonhalle in Zürich, where he lived. And with Mary and her husband George she attended historical piano concerts in Ashburnham, Massachusetts.

Another lifelong interest was in designing houses, mainly their floorplans, and she built her own house in Kalamazoo in the 1970s. Most recently she contributed a floor plan design for a house Mary and George are building on Lake Memphremagog in Quebec.

Geni also loved to travel. Andy’s business as an agent for nuts and dried fruits took them often to Turkey, but also to Naples and Hamburg, passing through Zürich when they could. Her beloved means of crossing the Atlantic was by ship, and her most recent transatlantic crossing was on the Queen Mary 2 in the fall of 2018 with Mary and George. After the crossing they visited cousins in Paris and then took the train to Rome where they all spent time with her nephew Blake Ferger and his partner Elena Lester who grew up in Rome and was an excellent guide to many historical sites and fabulous restaurants. With Andy she shared a love of trains, and whenever they could, they travelled by train, several times all the way across the U.S. In the late 1960s she traveled to Africa to visit Mary and George who were in the Peace Corps in Malawi. Christmases were celebrated with family in Wilton, Connecticut, Montreal, Quebec, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Madison, Wisconsin, Williamstown, Massachusetts, and New London, Connecticut.

Skiing was another passion, indulged in mainly in Aspen, Colorado, and usually with a group of friends from her time at Upjohn, but also with her brother on the easy slopes at Davos or Madrisa and with Mary and George in Quebec. Geni and Andy also loved wooden boats and enjoyed cruising around in their vintage Chris-Craft on Lake Winnipesaukee where they had a condo for a number of years. Their Keeshond Nathan loved the boat, but he was not so fond of the fireworks on the fourth of July (or of thunderstorms).

In Darien Geni was often found taking care of the common property of the Weeds Landing Association; her brother Blake and his wife Özlem Yazlik witnessed her engaging in heavy-weeding of the common property when they visited her from Turkey in the summer of 2019. Her own yard was beautifully landscaped, and she took great pleasure in gardening and tending her plants. Early on, she had a good grasp of human ecology and environmental protection, and tried to live accordingly. She also volunteered for several decades at Darien Public Library.

Geni is survived by her sister Mary Alcott Ferger of Williamstown, Massachusetts, her nephew Blake Ferger of New London, Connecticut, her brother Blake Alcott of Ayvalik, Turkey, her step-daughters Carol Lunden of Savannah, Georgia, and Suzanne Williamson of Tampa, Florida, her step-granddaughters Melissa Lunden of Portland, Oregon, and Nicole Lunden of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and her step greatgranddaughter Lila Sharp of Portland, Oregon.

A celebration of Geni’s life will be held at a later date.

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