Alice Hathaway Lee at age 17. Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (July 29, 1861 - February 14, 1884) was an American socialite. With "blue-gray eyes and long, wavy golden hair", she was called "Sunshine" by her family and friends, because of her cheerful disposition. At age 19, she married Theodore Roosevelt in 1880. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Alice Lee Roosevelt on the night of February 12, 1884. Theodore received a telegram the next morning notifying him of the birth, and made arrangements to take leave from his duties that afternoon. He received another telegram informing him that Alice had taken ill. By the time he arrived Alice was in a semi-comatose state. He held her for two hours until alerted to his mother's deteriorating condition, two floors below in their Manhattan home. His mother Mittie had been ill for several days with what would later be determined to be typhoid fever and died. He then rushed upstairs to his wife, whom he held for several hours until she died that afternoon from a case of undiagnosed kidney failure. Her pregnancy had masked the illness. Her death occurred on Valentine's Day, the fourth anniversary of when their engagement was announced. She was 22 years old.