The following document was written by Cheryl Green, a friend and collaborator of Alice Wong, who is a professional audio describer:
This slideshow highlights moments from the illustrious Alice Wong’s beautiful life. It covers the Year of the Tiger in 1974 to the Year of the Snake in 2025. The slides feature candid and posed photos of Alice and her family, dear friends, and community, all set against a crimson red background. Each picture is bordered by a slender gold line with softly rounded corners. Dusky-red and pink flowers are arranged singly or in leafy clusters around the gold-framed photos: peonies, dogwood blossoms, roses in full bloom and tender rosebuds, and others.
In a pastel onesie, with her short black hair standing straight on end, an Asian-American infant, Alice Wong, lies on her tummy on blankets on the floor. Her face is turned toward the camera, her hands tucked beneath her cheek. Just next to her stands a little plush animal with eyes closed and a serene smile.
Grandma cradles newborn Alice in her arms on a brown floral-patterned sofa. A second photo is from Alice’s 1st birthday. In a frilly pink dress, she stands on a chair at a round wooden table. She looks down at a white cake with gold frosting piped around the top and bottom and a single lit candle planted at the center. Five elementary-school-aged children also at the table wear summer clothes. Only the eldest girl looks at the camera. Three others gaze at the cake, and another looks at his hands pressed to his ridged white paper plate, waiting for his slice.
Two photos. In the first, an-elementary-school-aged Alice with shoulder-length hair sits in a lightweight power wheelchair with another girl, who stands to her right, at the base of some steps. Behind the girls stands a row of flags from over a dozen nations on tall white flag poles.
Second photo: Teenage Alice in wire-rimmed glasses at a kitchen table with four other Asian-American teens smiling cheerfully. Nearly empty dinner plates are set in front of each, and a feast is spread down the middle of the table. At the place settings, brightly-colored tea cups and Schweppes ginger ale cans.
Three photos. In the first, Alice sits in her power wheelchair wearing glasses, with her hair tucked into a red knit cap. She leans in to a row of three people standing in a line, all in cool-weather clothes. They pose for the camera on a steep San Francisco hill. Large homes with bay windows and cars parked at the curb all tilt like they might slide down the hill and out of view.
In the second picture, Alice’s hair is styled in a short bob. She holds a forkful of decadent, white-frosted chocolate cake to her pursed lips and sits shoulder to shoulder with an Asian-American woman who’s about to take a sip from a small white porcelain teacup. Behind them, her dad snoozes peacefully in a recliner.
In the third photo, Alice holds a small Hello Kitty card by her face. With raised eyebrows, she smiles, revealing a sweet dimple under her right cheek.
Two side-by-side family photos with Alice at the center, a young adult. In the left picture, Alice holds a wooden lighthouse statue on her lap, while her sister, Emily, mom, Bobby, and dad, Henry, stand in a line behind her. On the right, they smile for the camera at home, now with both sisters, Emily and Grace. The family is at a glass dining table by the kitchen with a roast chicken on the counter behind them. Alice holds a small, tube-shape gift wrapped in shimmering red paper. Another, in red-accented green wrapping paper, sits on the table by place settings and a glass of white wine.
Two photos. First, Christmastime at the mall. Alice is bundled in a large, downy gray winter coat posing with Bobby in front of an enormous Christmas tree. The tree glows with twinkling white string lights and reflections off of an array of metallic ornaments: multicolored, banded teardrops and lustrous red and green orbs.
The second photo is at the beach. Alice wears a purple and black windbreaker, with her sisters in light jackets standing on either side of her. Wispy clouds half-fill a pale blue sky. Low waves break around rocks near the shore, creating a gentle white froth on the otherwise placid, gray-blue water.
Two photos. First, Alice in a restaurant with her dad. She wears a floral blouse, and her hair’s in a chin-length bob. Diners fill the tables behind them.