Alice Madeline Gunn, daughter of Amos T. (1850-1895) and Emma (Ferguson (1853-1928) Gunn, was a woman ahead of her time. Smart, ambitious and independent, Alice completed 8th grade in the Okemos Union School and then went on to graduate in 1897 from Mason High School. Alice forged forward, obtained a teaching degree in Domestic Science from Michigan Agricultural College in 1901 and then went on to teach in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

It was sometime around 1915 that Alice met Isaac Newton Van Tassell. Isaac, born 21 September 1851, Wood County, Ohio, was originally and for many years a teacher and school principal in and around Wood County. In the late 1890's he partnered with his brother in a newspaper venture in Bowling Green, Ohio. After a few years in the newspaper business Isaac took the opportunity to teach school in the Stutsman County, North Dakota area. He taught for two years and then became a traveling circulation manager for the Minnesota newspaper, St. Paul Dispatch, trekking in and about North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota. It was in this era that he met Alice, who was teaching school in the state of Wisconsin. The two were wed 19 May 1915, Hennepin County, Minnesota.

According to Isaac's lengthy newspaper obituary, he became ill with cancer around 1919, about 4 years before his death. He was still located living in Cass County, North Dakota when the 1920 US Federal Census was enumerated but Isaac listed himself to the census taker as single, unmarried.

Alice was located in 1921 living in Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio. Isaac moved back, around 1921, to family in Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio, a distance of about 275 miles from Dayton, after his cancer diagnosis and a major surgery. He died 24 November 1923, Bowling Green. His obituary never mentioned Alice or their marriage.

Alice, according to Dayton newspaper articles, was always referred to as either Alice Van Tassell or Mrs. Alice Van Tassell. In census she states she is married. According to her death certificate she was divorced. Upon living in Dayton, Alice seemingly embarked on a new career, real estate. Innumerable newspaper ads, during the 1920's and 1930's, for renting and or selling property in Dayton, include her listed name. About 1940 Alice's health began to decline. She moved to Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania to live with her younger sister Katherine (Gunn) Yates. Alice, born 25 May 1878, Okemos, Ingham County, Michigan died 22 August 1943, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania. She was interred Glendale Cemetery, Okemos, near her sister, Dora, and parents,

Gunn, Alice Madeline (married Isaac Newton Van Tassell 1915 & divorced) MAC graduate, The Lansing Journal, Monday, June 25, 1906

Gunn, Alice Madeline (married 1915 & divorced Isaac Newton Van Tassell) wedding announcement, Jamestown Weekly Alert, Jamestown, North Dakota,  Thursday, May 27, 1915

Gunn, Alice Madeline (married Isaac Newton Van Tassell 1915 & divorced) 1915 Hennepin County, MN marriage record

Gunn, Alice Madeline (married & divored 1915 Isaac Newton Van Tassell) announcement as Secretary of the Margaret Club, giving her credentials, Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Ohio, Friday, October 5, 1923

Van Tassell, Isaac Newton (married Alice Madeline Gunn 1915 & divorced) obit part 1, The Daily Sentinel Tribune, Bowling Green, Ohio, Monday, November 26, 1923

Van Tassell, Isaac Newton (married Alice Madeline Gunn 1915 & divorced) obit part 2, The Daily Sentinel Tribune, Bowling Green, Ohio, Monday, November 26, 1923

Van Tassell, Isaac Newton (married Alice Madeline Gunn 1915 & divorced) Ohio Certificate of Death 1923

Gunn, Alice Madeline (married 1915 & divored Isaac Newton Van Tassell) obit, Lansing State Journal, Tuesday, August 24, 1943

Gunn, Alice Madeline (married Isaac Van Tassell 1915 & divorced) Pennsylvania Certificate of Death 1943