Donald Carl Alexander

Don Alexander, currently of Marina, California and formerly of Olympia Fields, Illinois, was born on July 24, 1935, to Carl and Martha Alexander in Rockford, Illinois. He attended the Rockford public schools and graduated from Rockford East High School in 1953. Don graduated with a major in Sociology from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois in 1958. As captain of the swim team, he set many Augustana and College Conference of Illinois freestyle records during his collegiate years. Don was inducted into the Augustana Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 as one of nine members representing all sports during the decade of the 50's. He was a member of the Pi Upsilon Gamma (PUG) fraternity. He met his wife Virginia (Ginger) at Augustana. They were married on August 7, 1960, at Zion Lutheran Church in Lockport, Illinois. Prior to moving to California in 2020, they resided in Olympia Fields, Illinois for 48 years.

Don received an M.Ed. from the University of Illinois in 1961 and an M.S. in Sociology from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1968. Don was the recipient of several National Science Foundation grants, spending summers at the University of California Berkeley, University of Colorado Boulder, and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, as well as an Academic Year Institute in Sociology at Illinois Institute of Technology. He taught for one year at Morris Kennedy School in Rockford, for seven years at Bloom High School in Chicago Heights, and for twenty-eight years in the Sociology Department at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights. He coached swimming and tennis at Bloom High School, and upon retirement coached both boys' and girls' tennis at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields.

Don served in the military beginning in 1958 with six months of basic training while stationed at Fort Ord, California. This was followed by five more years in the U.S. Army Reserve. Interestingly, life took him back to Fort Ord in 2020 when he and Ginger moved to the Monterey Peninsula to be near family.

Don was a long-time member of Faith Lutheran Church in Homewood, Illinois, serving on the church council and chairing the Social Ministry Committee for 13 years. He was instrumental in starting several social support programs at Faith Church including collections for ELCA World Hunger, Respond Now, and Salem Village; forming a group of Faith Caring Visitors, helping with missionary support, and organizing the Prayer Chain.

Don was an avid tennis player, and he played with many groups through the years at Park Forest Tennis Club and Homewood-Flossmoor Tennis Club. His love of fishing and of the outdoors led to a lifetime of memorable summers at the Alexander family cabin on East Bearskin Lake on the Gunflint Trail in Grand Marais, Minnesota. He first canoed the boundary waters in 1957. He especially loved teaching his grandchildren the secrets of fishing and a love for nature. He was an avid reader and frequented public libraries. Don was a vocal advocate for the environment, for the homeless, and for women's rights.

Surviving Don are his loving wife of 63 years, Virginia (Ginger) nee Arvidson; his daughter Susan Alexander (Fred Watson) of Marina, California; his son Erik Alexander (Karine) of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts; three grandchildren, Lukas Alexander and Caroline Alexander of Chestnut Hill, and Anna Watson of Marina; also many nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was predeceased by his parents, Carl and Martha Alexander, and his brother John Alexander.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, June 1, 11am, at St. Philip's Lutheran Church in Carmel Valley, California, where Don is a current member. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to ELCA World Hunger (https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Relief-and-Development/ELCA-World-Hunger), St. Philip's Lutheran Church, the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department (https://gunflint911.org/), or a charity of your choice.