Alice Pocus Sutcliff Remembers Days Gone By

Alice Pocus Sutcliff was born in Aurora, and her family lived on Sard Street until she was seven years old. Her parents Sophie and Alex Pocus then bought the Mill Tavern, and moved the family to live above the tavern on South River Street in Montgomery.

The year was 1944. Alice graduated from St. Peter’s School on Sard Avenue in Aurora in 1951.

“I remember Sister Mary Leo, who taught us and would come outside to play volleyball with us. I thought that was just great that a nun would do that,” Alice said.

She graduated from West Aurora High School in 1955. “We just celebrated our West Aurora High 55th class reunion and our class originally had 191 members," she said. "We have already lost about 30 classmates and about 25 attended the reunion. Many who attended live in the area still and we get together monthly,” she said.

Alice had two half-sisters and one step-sister, but they are all gone now. Alice has three grown sons—Mike, Tim and Bradley—and three grandsons: Sean, Jared and Justin.

For almost sixty years, Alice Sutcliff has contributed to Montgomery society in a host of ways. Alice attended the first meeting held at the VFW in 1998, along with only eight others. They called the group the Montgomery Business Council and then changed it to Chamber of Commerce. 

Alice led the Chamber for the next ten years as a community volunteer. She received no salary.

“I retired in 2008 when the recession hit because the business needed my attention,” she said. The following year Alice was named the Grand Marshall of the Montgomery Fest parade event.

“We began the Oktoberfest in 1999 and brought in a big tent across from Gray’s Mill," she remembered. "We had a band inside the beer tent. We made about $7,000 to 8,000 profit. The following year we held it in the VFW  building. We attracted big sponsors who donated such items as a TV, a GPS system, a video machine, and many other items.

"It was time-consuming work, but many residents helped and sold the raffle tickets. Each year we made that amount of profit,” Alice said. “The golf outings also did very well with about 100 golfers each year and the same profit margin of about $7,000 to 8,000." 

Alice currently serves as co-chair on Montgomery’s Beautification Committee with Village Trustee Jeanne Felten. This past summer they decorated the flower boxes on the Fox River bridge and in the past have planted and cultivated areas in the local parks.

For the past 53 years Alice has worked, and now owns, The Mill Tavern.

“We used to have so many regular customers that the bar area would be packed on a weekend night," she said. "Now we are lucky to have a dozen customers around the bar. Most of it is due to the current economic reality but also many large manufacturers have left the area... Those employees would stop in for lunch or for a cold one after work but those workers are all gone now.

"I used to pay $7 a case for beer years ago," she said. "Now it is $16 a case off the truck. When the lottery came in, we did quite well. We had a $3 million winner twenty years ago and the tavern received 1% of that amount. We have had a $3 million winner and a $1 million winner in the St. Patrick’s Day lottery. Some call us the lucky lottery store,” she laughed.

“We have had one robbery when a local kid, high on Valium, put a sawed-off shotgun on the counter and demanded money," Alice recalled. "He took all the money he could stuff in his clothes and ran out the store. Our alarm notified the authorities and within minutes he was caught just about near Hesed House. We have had other attempts, but they were not successful.”

Alice has enjoyed travel on Royal Caribbean cruises to the Panama Canal, Alaska, and other exotic locales. She likes to garden and played golf, until recently. She loves to read and her family recently gave her a Pandigital e-book. ("I like mysteries, John Grisham-type stories,” she said.)

“When the 1996 flood hit, we were closed for three days," she said. "Neighbors, relatives and customer friends came to help out. We lost the entire air conditioning system and the heat ducts. Insurance wouldn’t cover it.

"Chief of Police Dennis Schmidt brought by sand and we all worked to put the sand bags all around the building so the water would not come up to the first floor bar area. We cut a hole in a concrete step and pumped the water back to the river. It was something,” she said.           

Alice has had triple by-pass surgery, and doctors also replaced a heart valve. But she is fully recovered and quite active. Alice has been one of the most hard-working and generous residents in Montgomery for decades now and shows no signs of fully retiring. Her interest in the village in which she lives is evident. Her years of contributions record a generous and giving spirit.