Alison J. Aird, 49
Alison Jane Aird, an accomplished pianist and English and drama teacher who was in remission for 10 years from a malignant brain tumor, died on Friday night at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. She was 49 years old and had been diagnosed when she was 38.
Ms. Aird was highly qualified in a number of areas, in addition to being a teacher. She had degrees in international relations, and literature and drama, as well as a postgraduate certificate of education. She was a talented piano player who played duets with her mother over the years.
She was born on July 31, 1967, in Beverly, Mass., one of the three children of Alexander McGregor Aird and the former Margaret Vallance. Her parents had moved from Scotland to Canada when Mr. Aird was transferred by Pratt & Whitney, an aircraft engine manufacturer, to Canada, and then to this country. She spent the first five years of her life in Swampscott, Mass., and Cincinnati before the family moved back to the U.K.
She graduated from Wimbledon High School in London, earned a B.A. with honors in international relations from Sussex University in Brighton, an M.A. in literature and drama from the University of Essex, and a postgraduate certificate of education at the University of London. Ms. Aird taught English and drama to high school students in London. For her dissertation at Essex, she produced and directed a multimedia version of Angela Carter’s radio play “Vampirella.”
She trained students at Half Moon Theatre, a young people’s theater in London, and did a technical training course in writing and sound at Tom Allen Center in Stratford, London. She also did a three-month stint in writing and sound for productions at Ovalhouse, a lively fringe theater and arts center on the Kennington Oval, opposite the famous cricket ground.
From October 1991 to June 1992, Ms. Aird participated in a theater writing course run by Bernard Kops, a British dramatist, poet, and novelist at City Lit, an adult education center in London. Along the way Ms. Aird somehow found time after finishing the theater writing course to obtain a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language.
In September 1999 she married Sean Carmichael, an Englishman, in Southampton. They lived in Springs, Sag Harbor, and, most recently, in Amagansett.
Ms. Aird taught theater at the Ross School and also taught English at the Springs School. She was a member of the Choral Society of the Hamptons for two years and volunteered at the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society Bargain Box.
Her father died before her. In addition to her mother, Margaret Aird of London, her sister, Margaret Anne Aird of London, and her brother, Gregor Aird of Oviedo, Spain, Ms. Aird is survived by her husband, Mr. Carmichael of Sag Harbor, and their three children, Sophie, 12, Finlay, 14, and Rosa, 16. She is also survived by two nephews and a niece.
“She was strong, courageous, and graceful in how she handled all of this,” said Janet Fensterer of Amagansett, who knew Ms. Aird from the performing arts department at the Ross School. “She had three young children, and she had to move a couple of times in recent years.”
A celebration of her life will be held at the Ross School Tennis Center in East Hampton on Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m.
Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Kanas Center for Hospice Care, 1 Meeting House Road, Quiogue 11978.