Alice “Mimi” Fail

Alice “Mimi” Fail was born into a large Portuguese family in Perth Amboy, New Jersey to parents Joseph and Mary Gomes on July 9th, 1930.  As a baby, her family moved back to Portugal but returned to the United States when she was five.  As a child, she had a lovely singing voice and would be pulled out of school to perform.  She was the only sister of seven brothers:  Annibal, Joe, Louie, George, Albert, Tony, and Jerry.  She grew up in California and met her first husband Pete Costa there.  They were ballroom dance partners.  They had three children together – Lena, Peter and Paul. They later divorced and she supported her family making cookie boxes at the Sunshine Biscuit factory in Oakland, California.  She met her second husband, Robert “Bob” Fail, Sr., while working there.  They fell in love and got married.  Their marriage produced two sons, Robert, Jr. and Lewis.  Alice was a stay at home mother to her youngest children and an adoring and supportive Navy wife whose husband was overseas for six months at a time.  As a Navy family, they lived in San Diego, Hawaii, Treasure Island, and Pleasant Hill. They had a passion for travel and took their children to Disneyland many times.  Mimi enjoyed playing the nickel slots in Reno.  She cherished being a Mom and, later, a grandmother to her many grandchildren:  Angela, Amanda, Peter, Krista, Marcus, Wesley, and Dillon.  As she grew older, she was lively and fun and loved to sing and dance. She is predeceased by her parents and oldest son Peter as well as her brothers Annibal, Joe, Louie and Tony.