02/05/2026
I never doubted that Alice Green, Founder of Old Savannah Tours in 1979, would make it to 102. I was surprised it wasn't 118, really. She was my 3rd boss in Savannah, emphasis on "boss," as she ran her tour guides like swabbies on a Navy vessel that was both on fire and doing fine at the same time. Her son, Will, was 2nd-in-command, and that came with a lot of responsibility and pressure. Good thing he had managed gyms previously because it took a super soldier to get it all done 7 days a week for 30 some odd, if not 40 years. As a young SCAD student with a twinkle in his eye for history, stories, it was a badge of honor to get not only a tour guide license after passing the mountain of a tour guide test written by John Duncan, but then a CDL license for Alice's tour buses and trolleys. Will drove me to Savannah Tech for the test, Alice wishing me well over the walkie talkie. Which is how I knew her mostly, a grandmotherly voice from the command center. She was a tough cookie, make no mistake, but what meant the world to me was she and Will's openness to tour ideas that were unpioneered, some still strangely not stock trade in Savannah. We had at least the first bus tour of memory that went to Tybee Island, and I was suddenly giving full tours of Fort Pulaski, the Tybee Lighthouse, Fort Screven, Officers' Row, and the beach itself! Later would come a Women's History effort, an Architecture Tour, and a Civil War themed tour. It was exciting, but none of them really stuck in those days, too early we concluded, and no one had yet to hear of "the internet." And what did I know, I was just a kid, really, but it was fun, and Alice and Will were great for being open to the experimentation. Funny, but on those extra-curricular tours, Alice had me pilot maybe not her first bus, but it was an early company acquired 14 passenger, gasoline vs diesel styled bus. Frankly, that meant with a lot of short stints, stop-n-go styled touring, it struggled in the heat, and the A/C would go real lean in the summertime. Alice was strangely sentimental about that bus. I'd known her to drive it, but she'd always say this funny thing over the radio when it struggled, "I'm just gonna drive that old bus into the river!" She never said it like she was mad at it, just like it was some old mule that needed pasturing. Made me laugh. Over the years, I saw the inception of walking tours, started my own company, stayed in touch with Will more, to this day, in fact, but I never saw Alice in person again. Even so, I would periodically see her gasoline bus cruise past like some rare specimen of "the old days" and would think to myself, just like Alice herself - it was still going! And naturally, I'd flashback to her voice declaring she was soon to drive it into the river! But some real years have gone by, so I confess it was quite pleasing when I stopped by "the barn" where their newly renamed Elite Savannah Travel now operates, and caught sight of "that old bus" sitting on the lot like Alice's spirit very much still there. A bit of mine, too, I guess you could say. It was an honor to drive it and hope they never drive it into the river, although....nah, nevermind. Thank you, Alice, for adding something to my life that set a course for many historical and life adventures since. My thoughts go out to Will Green and family.
Mrs. Alice Naomi Clark Green, age 102, of Savannah, died Saturday, January 31, 2026, after a brief illness surrounded by her loving family. She was born on Octo
