Alene Biederman Cisney Obituary (1939

Cisney, Alene Biederman Alene Biederman Cisney of Manchester, WA, consummate Librarian and political activist, passed away peacefully on the morning of July 30, 2014 after a courageous battle with ovarian cancer. She was 74 years old. She is survived by her husband Eric, daughter Anne, granddaughter Kehdrin, sister Ann Thorson, and four loving and devoted cats and dogs. Early life Alene was born in Texas on December 18, 1939, the second child of Albert and Marguerite Biederman. The family lived in a variety of locations in the United States and Europe while Alene was growing up, following her father in his work as a Colonel in the US Army Medical Corps. Eventually, they settled in the Pacific Northwest. Education and Profession Alene began her undergraduate career at Reed College when she was just 17. Her activities there included folk dancing, harmlessly sneaking into various college buildings with her friends after hours, studying calligraphy under master Floyd Reynolds, and earning a B.A. in English Literature. The most lasting impact of this period was a love of arts and sign-making that Alene employed in various forms for the rest of her life. At loose ends after college, Alene worked as a calligrapher and continued taking classes for fun, this time at the University of Washington, where she had started a part-time job. During this time, an HR representative at the Seattle Public Library changed her life with the observation that someone who so clearly loved learning and spending time in the library might be well-suited to a career in professional Librarianship. Alene soon enrolled in the University's Masters in Librarianship program, where she was introduced to both her vocational calling and her husband, fellow student Eric Cisney. The two were married in August of 1966, the great romance of their graduating class. Alene went on to work for ten years as a cataloger at Seattle University, simultaneously earning a second B.A. in French and helping to illustrate a local edition of the famous Marchand Method French immersion textbook, "La Famille Dupont." She took a hiatus from library work after her daughter's birth in 1976, returning in the early 1980s to serve for many years as manager of Manchester Branch of the Kitsap Regional Library and then as a Reference Librarian at the Port Orchard Branch, passing on her love of learning to generations of library patrons and to her daughter, who has followed in her parents' professional footsteps. When Alene retired, she shifted her focus from serving individuals through the library to serving future generations through political activism. She was passionate about a range of social issues, writing essays and making signs and banners that continue to provide clear and persuasive support for the causes and candidates she believed in. Memorial and Legacy Alene preferred that a service not be held in her memory. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in her name to the Friends of the Manchester Library Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 128, Manchester, WA 98353. In addition, Alene's family is collecting stories and (rare) photos of Alene to help her very young granddaughter better know and understand a grandmother who she loved during their brief time together. Your memories and anecdotes, contributed through this website and other means, will be gratefully incorporated. Funeral Home: Weeks' Dryer Mortuary 220 134th Street South Tacoma, WA US 98444