Region 6 lost a devoted daylily enthusiast and good friend on December 30, 2005
when Grace Alexander died.Region 6 lost a devoted daylily enthusiast and good friend on December 30, 2005
when Grace Alexander died.
Grace was born March 15, 1927, in Victoria, Texas, the daughter of Alvin and Leonie (Miller) Berthol. She graduated from Albany High school, and one year later married Joshua David Alexander, whom she met at Schriener College in Kerrville. After several moves, they settled in Galveston in 1959.
Grace worked in the Personnel Department at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for many years prior to her retirement. After retirement, she and Josh built a house on Lake Buchanan, near Burnet, Texas, where they lived until her death. They were married 59 years.
Grace was an avid gardener and grower of daylilies. Over the years, she sold many daylilies to Burnet area residents through Alexander Daylilies. She was a Texas Master Gardener and a Lifetime Member of the American Hemerocallis Society. She frequently traveled the country serving as an American Hemerocallis Society Exhibition Judge. Her last judging trip was to Albuquerque, New Mexico, the summer of 2005.
In addition to these activities, she was an Avon Representative for 31 years, earning numerous Albee Awards as a top-seller.
Grace loved to travel. Some of her notable trips with Josh were to Hawaii, the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, and up to Alaska in a travel trailer. She also took many trips with her friend and sister-in-law, Dolores Alexander. Grace and Dolores traveled together to the Holy Land and through parts of Europe.
My wife, Mary, and I got involved with daylilies in the Winter of 1984. We attended our first Region 6 Meeting in Austin in 1986. We are good friends with Inez Tarrant. Inez and Grace were roommates at all of the Regional Meetings they attended together. Grace never missed a Regional Meeting since becoming a member of American Hemerocallis Society, attending 29 consecutive Region 6 Meetings. Inez introduced us to Grace and we hit it off immediately. It was like we had known each other for years. We could talk about anything and I really enjoyed listening to her laugh. We laughed a lot!
Thereafter, when we went to Regional Meetings, Grace always sought us out and would grab me by the arm. We would walk and talk about all that had happened in the year since we had last seen each other. When I acted up, which was often, Grace would catch my eye and she would give me that look like - you know what you are doing is naughty!! - and then she would crack up with laughter. I loved to hear her laugh.
We visited Grace and her husband, Josh, at their home in Burnet, several years ago and it was like going back to my home town. Grace treated us like we were family. Grace was so excited to show off her daylilies and the collection she had of her Mother-in-Law's daylilies. Mrs. J. W. (Neva) Alexander was Grace's Mother-in-Law. Neva was a Charter Member of American Hemerocallis Society and registered Hemerocallis 'Rosie Meyer', among many other daylilies.
Mary and I always enjoyed visiting with Grace and considered her one of our precious friends. We will always cherish her memory and will miss Grace greatly. Regional Meetings will never be the same without her.
I am the Region 6 Archive Chair and Historian, and Grace was a great help to me over the last several years, supplying me with information about the earlier days of the Region. She even loaned me some Region 6 Newsletters from her collection of Newsletters when I found that the Region was missing some of the past issues. She also provided me with an article that she had written about daylilies for another publication and gave her permission to re-print it in one of the Region 6 Newsletters.
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