Biography: Mrs. Alice Payne

Unsung Treasures Honoree Alice Payne was born, raised and educated in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. As a young person she was always involved in serving and making a difference in the community. As a high school upperclassmen she was very active in her school's volunteer efforts in teaching the less fortunate. She attended a finishing school in Chicago while living with her grandmother, where she learned to work with people of all racial backgrounds. This later proved to be invaluable experience. She attended Antioch University and later received her Master's Degree from Cheyney University. Alice married and moved into getting borough and became the mother of three children. She worked as an effective educator for the Philadelphia School District.

While living in Yeadon Alice served  her community as block captain, and works with people in the community as part of the Yeadon Civic Association. she was also the first African American woman to be a school board administrator in Yeadon Borough. even more notably in 1973 Alice Payne founded an organization called the Optimistic Senior Citizens. She noticed that there were many older senior citizens with various skills and abilities who had no place to go to utilize these talents. She set out to solve this problem and faught through much opposition due to the racial climate in Yeadon during the 1970s. with the help of an Episcopal priest and several other ministers, Alice Payne went before the Yeadon Borough Court and was granted authorization to operate her organization from Borough Hall. The Optimistics grew in popularity and membership began to increase at the point of relocation. The organization moved to 936 Church Lane, desegregating this area of Yeadon. Alice Payne's organization still operates at this location, and consists of 73 older citizens rendering medical and educational services to the community.

Now as an older citizen with music training, Alice Payne has developed programs to help enrich both the young and the old she created the piano program which teaches seniors the basic skills they need to play the piano. she also established the Sister to Sister program. This much needed program teaches etiquette, personal health and hygiene, appropriate dress and grooming cooking music and foreign languages to girls ages 12 to 18 to prepare them for their future. In addition to actively serving these members of her community, Alice Payne is also a board member of the National Council of Negro Women and sits on the executive board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Yeadon and Darby, Pennsylvania.