Ralph Walter Alexander 1930-2006

ALXANDER VOLKL CUTLER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 2/1/2011 at 17:14:47

.SMITHLAND, Iowa -- Ralph Walter Alexander, 75, of Smithland passed away Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006, at a Sioux City hospital following a lengthy heart condition.

Services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at United Methodist Church in Smithland, with the Revs. Karen Handke and Kirk Cox, pastor of Sioux City Sanctuary officiating. Burial will be in Little Sioux Township Cemetery, Smithland, with military rites conducted. Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. today at Rush Family Care Services in Onawa, Iowa.

Ralph was born March 8, 1930, in McPherson County, Neb., the son of Walter and Dena (Volkl) Alexander. He graduated from Onawa High School in 1948. He was an alumni of Morningside College (1971-1975). He was a veteran of the Korean War from 1951 to 1953.

He married Janis Lee Cutler on April 26, 1953, in Onawa. The couple lived in Houston, Texas, from 1953 to 1954. They returned to farm in the Onawa and Moville, Iowa area, eventually settling on a farm near Smithland from 1959 until the present. He worked for a time at the Westendorf Manufacturing Plant in Smithland and several construction jobs resulting in the building of Highway 141 and Interstate 29.

He was a member of Sioux City Sanctuary in Sioux City and the American Legion Post 666 in Smithland. His greatest passion was the love he had for his family, farming and hunting on his farmland. He especially enjoyed family gatherings and celebrations.

Survivors include his wife, Janis; a daughter, Kathryn Garcia of Evanston, Wyo.; five sons and their wives, Mike and Kathleen Alexander of Port Edward, Wis., Stephen "Kim" and Gloria Alexander of Del Valle, Texas, Randy and Tracy Alexander of Corydon, Iowa, Kevin and Linda Alexander of Sergeant Bluff and Jeff and Sandra Alexander of Lakeville, Minn.; a sister, Elizabeth Loomis of Onawa; two brothers and their wives, Robert and Joyce and Raymond and Jeanette of Omaha, Neb.; 23 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two sons, Dovin Matthew and Merlin Leigh; a sister, Bertha; a brother, Leo; a son-in-law, Mark Garcia; and a granddaughter, Sarah Alexander.

Pallbearers will be his five sons; and a grandson, Stephen Alexander.