STOCKTON HAS LOST one of its longtime business icons with the passing of Alyce Tekerlek, who died of pneumonia Aug. 6 at the age of 95.
Tekerlek owned and operated La Maison dress shop downtown for 56 years, working long after others retired, and choosing to remain downtown long after others had left. She died peacefully in hospice care, said her son, Alan Tekerlek.
“I thought she’d outlive me,” he said.
That was a reasonable expectation. Mrs. Tekerlek’s dogged determination to keep working at her elegant shop put her on a short list of Stockton’s longest-running workers. The idea of retirement appalled her.
“What can I do at home?” she asked me in 2013 when she was 84 and celebrating 55 years at her shop. “I don’t have anything to do at home.”
By hanging in there, Tekelek became — as I wrote in 2013 — a time capsule of the days when downtown was classy and thriving.
After retiring around 2014, she continued doing alterations for clients from her home for several years, her son said. When she finally hung up her needle and thread, she enjoyed travel with family.
A memorial service for Alyce Tekerlek will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at DeYoung Memorial Chapel, 601 N. California St., Stockton, followed by a graveside service at Stockton Rural Cemetery around 11 a.m.
Michael Fitzgerald writes a column for Stocktonia. Find him on Twitter and Instagram as Stocktonopolis. Email mfitzgeraldstockton@gmail.com.
This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.
