She was pals with a princess
Alice Condon has never met anyone she didn’t like—including real royalty. The former Alice Godfrey was born at Temple Hospital in 1927 and grew up in East Falls. Two of her friends from those days would continue to play important roles in her life story: Ann Garman and Grace Kelly, who became Princess Grace of Monaco.
“We did lots of fun things together,” Alice says. In winter, the friends all ice-skated on the Kelly’s tennis court and in summer, they cooled off in a Kelly Brick Yard mixer filled with water.
Alice and Grace were like family.
“She loved coming to my house and called my parents ‘Aunt Babe’ and ‘Uncle Bill.’ I loved going to their house and called her parents ‘Aunt Margaret’ and ‘Uncle Jack.’”
The two shared a Girl Scout troop, going to football games at Penn Charter and more, until Alice, two years Grace’s senior, went off to Ursinus College to study physical education. (She played basketball and field hockey.) When Alice married Charlie Waters, the Kelly family came to the wedding at Seaview Country Club.
Of weddings, families and old friends
Alice and Charlie had two sons while they were living in Virginia. When Charlie got out of the Army, the family moved to Bryn Mawr, where they continued to be friendly with the Kellys. Alice and Charlie attended Grace Kelly’s 21st birthday party—a black-tie—affair, and when their third son was born, they asked her to be his godmother.
At the time, Kelly “was going to Hollywood to be in a movie called High Noon starring Gary Cooper,” Alice recalls.
In 1956 Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco. Alice couldn’t attend the wedding because she was pregnant, although her parents went. Eventually, she and Charlie had four boys and two girls, and Alice taught kindergarten for 30 years.
After high school, Alice had lost touch with her friend Ann, whose family had moved from Philadelphia. While living in Chicago, Ann met and married Vern Condon. When they moved back east to New Jersey, Ann wanted to find Alice, and so she reached out to Princess Grace for Alice’s contact information. Alice and Ann reconnected and the two couples became fast friends and visited often.
The next chapter of the fairy tale
Alice lost her husband, Charlie, after 52 years of marriage. Soon after, Vern lost Ann. Alice and Vern remained friendly and, in 2004, they married.
“I would say we were just friends who could talk to each other about all the good times we had as couples and then it evolved into something more,” Alice told a local newspaper in 2012. At the time, she and Vern were preparing to leave New Vernon, New Jersey, where she was a member of the garden club and the fire department ladies auxiliary. She raised funds for the library and served on the Shade Tree Commission.
The next stop for Alice and Vern was their new home at Jenner’s Pond. It’s convenient to Alice’s six children, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. It freed them from home maintenance and yard care. Plus, Alice had fallen in love with the cottages—and the people.
“Everyone smiles and greets you. People are so friendly and go out of their way to help you feel at home. The food is great, too,” she says. “It’s just a great spot to live.”
Vern passed in 2017. Alice remains here at Jenner’s Pond, surrounded by friends, looking back at a lifetime of happy memories and continuing to enjoy every day.