About Alice

Throughout my childhood, my education, and my professional life, North Carolina has always been my home. Even earlier, two of my ancestors served in the N.C. House of Representatives, making it an enormous honor to continue to serve Alamance County and the State of North Carolina in the General Assembly as I have since 2002.

The oldest of five children and a product of Charlotte public schools, I was one of the large Baby Boomer generation to grow up in a typical post-WWII neighborhood, safe and free to roam with other children my age. My Girl Scout troop meetings were at the neighborhood Presbyterian Church – not only a second home, but also a place of worship that helped to shape the person I am today.

My two degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have enabled me to work in a variety of fields, providing me a thorough understanding of issues in education and small business. I have held positions as school media coordinator, university librarian, small business owner and real estate broker.

The unexpected death of my father served as the catalyst for my initial move into public service. As often happens upon the lNo matter what job or position I held, what interested me the most was the public policy underlying my work, the public purpose of laws governing all that we do.  I wanted to become engaged in the process of developing public policy   How better to do that than to pursue a law degree?  I enrolled in the North  Carolina Central University School of Law where I earned my juris doctor. While a student at NCCU, I was elected to serve on the Mebane City Council (where I have lived for 20 years,) and was named a fellow at the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership.  After passing the bar, I won my first election to the N.C. House of Representatives where I have continued to serve.

I am fortunate to have love and support from my family in all of my endeavors: my husband Donald Oehler, daughters Meredith Jones and Elisabeth Scharf, granddaughter Abby and grandson Cameron.  They are, as they always have been, my grounding.