Alma Kahl

ALMA F. KAHL

July 6, 1911 - March 3, 2023

Portsmouth Resident

FC Daehler Mortuary

Alma F. Kahl, whose life spanned two world wars, the great depression, and 9/11, and was witness to the advent of television, air conditioning, jet travel, and the microchip, died March 3, 2023, at Portsmouth, Ohio. She was 111 years old.

For most of the twentieth century, and continuing well into the twenty-first, Alma was a fixture in Portsmouth, Ohio, perennially visible at meetings of arts related causes, concerts, exhibitions and theatre. She generously gave both personal and financial backing to the advancement of the humanities and the arts, including the Portsmouth Area Arts Council, Shawnee State University, where the Kahl Black Box Theatre is named in her honor, Southern Ohio Performing Arts, Portsmouth Symphony, and most especially the Southern Ohio Museum, which hosted Alma's one-hundredth birthday celebration in 2011, and conferred upon her the title of "Patron Member Emerita".

She was a member of Second Presbyterian Church.

Alma Mae Fraser Kahl was born July 6, 1911, in Fayette County, West Virginia, the daughter of J.R. and Beatrice Fraser.

She attended West Virginia University where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority and was elected homecoming queen.

She was married to Cyrus P. Kahl, a prominent Portsmouth attorney and Portsmouth Spartan alumnus. Cy and Alma established a beautiful home on Franklin Boulevard in Portsmouth, where, after her husband's passing in 1971, Alma continued to live independently and happily well past her centennial.

Alma was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and two brothers, Howard Fraser and John Fraser.

She is survived by a niece, Carol Sue Fraser Edwards (Tom), two great nieces:

Heather Edwards Orman and Jennifer Edwards Daniels, and two great-great nephews: Jasper Daniels and Gus Daniels.

Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, April 15th, 2023 at 1:00 PM at the 2nd Presbyterian Church, 801 Waller Street, Portsmouth, OH 45662.

As a memorial to Alma, she requested that you do an affirmative act of generosity in her memory, or send a contribution to her favorite charity, the Southern Ohio Museum, Post Office 990, Portsmouth, Ohio 45662.

Reflecting on Alma's life, a friend said, "Perhaps as one lives longer, one can become more kind and generous, and perhaps as one becomes more kind and generous, one lives longer".

Please visit www.fcdaehlermortuary.com to leave a special memory of Alma or condolences for her family.