Alice Huffman Bugel was born March 14, 1917 in Roanoke, Virginia. Affectionately known as Huffie, she was the daughter of Octavius L. and Hattie Johnson Huffman. She graduated in 1938 from the University of Virginia School of Nursing in Charlottesville. For a short time she worked at the Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, before returning to Charlottesville. During World War II she served as a First Lieutenant with the 8th Evacuation Hospital which was formed and sponsored by the University of Virginia.

Following the war, she and a fellow nurse moved to Nashville, to work at the Veterans Administration Hospital where she spent her entire career beginning in the surgical ward and later serving as supervisor of the surgical wards and the recovery room. In 1960, she married Dr. Harry Joseph Bugel who was director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the V. A. Hospital in Nashville. A widower, Alice helped raise his two children, as well as a daughter. They were married 45 years before his passing in 2005. Alice was a long time member of Immanuel Baptist Church and active with the Vanderbilt Sewing Club, as well as the Daughters of the American Revolution, and various veterans’ organizations. She died in Nashville, December 17, 2012.