In Memoriam, Class of 1972

Mary Elizabeth"Molly" Alden, December 22, 1950 - January 8,1999

Mary Elizabeth "Molly" Alden was a dear friend to many at Cowell College. She was a good listener and great story teller and smart in so many ways.

Molly was born in Toledo, Ohio, and grew up in Sunnyvale. She was a graduate of Fremont High School. Her undergraduate career took her to Dublin, Ireland, for junior year study on the Education Abroad Program. She graduated with a degree in Art History and continued her education at Boalt Hall where she earned her law degree.

Molly worked as a public defender for the US government in Fresno  (I remember her telling me about having to drive up to a log cabin "court house" in Yosemite National Park). She later worked for the California State Attorney General dealing with anti-trust law matters. Her pet project was the Patient's Bill of Rights.

Molly was married to Craig Thompson (now deceased) and is survived by her children, Julia and Christopher, and a host of friends who remember her fondly.

Molly's daughter reports that her passions were kids, cooking, and reading (Jane Austen and Agatha Christie). She was a huge fan and supporter of the arts, especially theater. Her fuel for her life included coffee, wine, and chocolate.

James Huber was born in Santa Cruz, California and began his studies at UC Santa Cruz in 1968. He earned his B.A. in History and Studio Art at the UC Berkeley in 1972 and briefly continued his studies afterwards at the Academy of Art, San Francisco under Joan Brown.

James established the San Francisco Open Studios Program in 1974 along with Phil Linhares and David McClay as an alternative means for artist to exhibit and present their practices outside commercial contexts. He presented his work in 1974 and 1975 and in later years. Consistently maintaining an active studio and independent art making practice in the Castro, he received solo exhibitions at the Plaza Gallery, Bank of America Headquarters (SF) in 1977 and a survey of his work at the South of Market Cultural Center (SF) in 1980. His work was included in group exhibitions at the Vorpal Gallery (SF) in 1986, the Pritchard Art Gallery, U. of Idaho(Moscow, ID) in 1987 and at the Collins Gallery (Emeryville, CA) in 1987.

He died of AIDS in 1988 at age thirty-seven. James left behind over 900 paintings, drawings, and sculptures reflecting Bay Area Figurative and Abstract Expressionism genres. He was mentor and lover to Michael Hossner, many of whose paintings chronicle the AIDS epidemic and its impact on their community. www.jameshuber.art

Lee Draper, Jim’s friend and soulmate since they met at UC Santa Cruz in 1968, became trustee of Jim’s and Michael’s artwork after the two men died. 1n 1990 Lee established the Huber Hossner Estate Project, whose mission is to steward the artwork and archives of James Huber and Michael Hossner in order to establish their art historical value, record the impact of AIDS on the artists and a generation of artists in the Bay Area, and investigate the social cultural context in which the artists worked to better understand issues of LGBTQ+ identity, discrimination, and activism.

Jim’s papers and documentation are a part of the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian, Washington, DC. Currently, a monograph, exhibition, public programming, and scholarly research is in development.