Whether it was at her longtime post at the front desk of the Lawrence fire department or from her seat on the Lawrence school board, Alice Fowler often was working to help someone, said friends of the longtime community leader, who died on Tuesday.

“She was a real advocate for anybody who she cared about,” said Rich Barr, who worked with Fowler for about 20 years at the Lawrence fire department.

And Fowler cared about many, friends said.

“She just knew everybody,” said State Rep. Barbara Ballard, who served with Fowler for eight years on the Lawrence school board. “She will be missed because she was so reliable, would listen and would give you a perspective based on so much history.”

Fowler, 80, died at her longtime North Lawrence home. She previously had served two terms on the Lawrence school board, from 1985 to 1993. Ballard and Fowler in 1985 became the first black women to serve on the Lawrence school board, Ballard said. Ballard said Fowler always was very concerned about schools in different parts of the city remaining equitable and ensuring that no one from any part of the city got left behind.

“She understood that some parents were left out because they never really were encouraged enough to be involved,” Ballard recalled. “She always reminded us to not assume people didn’t care because they didn’t show up. She wanted to make sure we represented everybody.”

Fowler also was well-known through her job as the secretary for the Lawrence fire department, a position she held for 20 years until her retirement in 1995.

“I remember she kept us in line,” said Barr, the city’s former fire marshal. “She really was like a second mom to a lot of us. She really had a big impact on me, personally. If I was going through some sort of problem, she could usually figure it out. She was the type who would ask you what was wrong. She could tell when you needed someone to talk to.”

In retirement, Fowler became an advocate to expand prescription drug coverage to Medicare recipients after she saw firsthand how seniors were struggling to pay for costly medications. She received a kidney transplant from her son Earl in 1996 and soon found herself with medication bills of more than $1,000 a month, the Journal-World reported at the time.

Fowler was active in lobbying federal legislators to change the law, but Barr said she never complained about her struggles.

“She met adversity with a lot of courage,” Barr said. “She was always upbeat. She always wanted to know how you were doing.”

Services for Fowler are at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mustard Seed Church, 700 Wakarusa Drive, and are being handled by Warren-McElwain Mortuary. A complete obituary previously appeared in the Journal-World.