Aline Legault Kirchner, 100, died peacefully on May 16 after a brief decline. Born on December 14, 1916, in Montreal, Quebec, the 15th of 18 children in a Catholic French Canadian family, she was encouraged in all her artistic and academic endeavors.

She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Montreal School of Fine Arts. Out of over 400 applicants, she was one of six accepted to study medical illustration at Johns Hopkins University in a program to train medical illustrators. While there, she worked part time at the US Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD, creating models for prosthetic replacements for war veterans.

Near the end of her second year of study, she was serving as the official photographer at the annual turtle race when she met John A. Kirchner, MD, a medical resident in the Department of Otolaryngology. The two arranged to go crabbing the following weekend and became engaged a week later. Three months later, October 11, 1947, they were married.

Aline dedicated herself to supporting her husband in his career as head of the Otolaryngology Section at Yale-New Haven Hospital and raising their five children.

Married for 64 years, Aline was a devoted wife, energetic mother, talented artist, creative chef, yoga enthusiast, committed student, skilled seamstress, insightful financier, and lover of all things beautiful. Predeceased by her husband, she is survived by her children J. Cameron (Diane), Thomas L., Paul E. (Sandy Rabinowitz), Mimi Kirchner (Ben Hyde), and Tina Jackson (Bob) as well as 14 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and her dear friend Barbara C. Amatruda.

In December 2016, Aline's family gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday at Meadow Mills Assisted Living, where she resided in her final years.

A Catholic funeral mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Woodbridge, CT, on Saturday, May 20, at 11:00 am with burial to follow at Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, CT.