Long-time Shaw Island resident Kenneth M. Alexander, 94, died Monday, May 8 at the home of his son Michael, in Seattle. Ken was born August 14, 1911 in the University District of Northeast Seattle. He was the oldest of four children of May (Pope) and Ira Alexander. Ken’s two younger brothers also lived in the San Juan Islands, the late Loren Alexander lived on Lopez from 1981 to 2001, and Daniel Alexander served two years on Stuart Island for the Coast Guard, 1949-51, assigned to lighthouse duty at Turn Point on the Northwest end of Stuart Island. Ken’s cousin Alan Pope also lived on Lopez.

Ken worked began work for Seattle City Light in 1942, then served three years in the U.S. Army in World War II, stationed in India and Burma. He returned to City Light in 1946 and worked there until retiring in 1971. Ken first heard about the San Juan Islands from his brother Dan. Ken and Gladys, his wife of 57 years, were married in 1949, the same year younger brother Dan married Gloria, his Canadian-born wife of 57 years (and counting). The pair of newlyweds often met on remote Stuart Island from 1949 to 1951, as Ken and Gladys learned to love the island lifestyle. Throughout the 1950s, Dan and Ken often sailed the islands or hunted for deer, while Ken searched for a retirement haven.

Ken and Gladys Alexander bought a parcel of land on Blind Bay, Shaw Island, in the 1960s, to which they moved full-time in 1973, two years after Ken’s retirement. In the following 30 years, Ken and Gladys enjoyed many happy — sometimes tumultuous — times on Blind Bay. (Shaw Islanders know what we mean). Ken was in the volunteer fire fighting group on Shaw and Gladys was instrumental in establishing the Enchanted Quilters of Shaw and Lopez, as well as the local fund-raising organization called “Shaw Ink” (inc.). When age and health conditions required access to long-term care, Ken and Gladys sold their Shaw home in 2003 and bought a new home in Sedro-Woolley.

Ken is survived by his wife Gladys and son Michael, of Seattle, and younger brother Daniel, of Olympia.

(Submitted by brother Dan Alexander of Olympia, and nephew Gary Alexander of Lopez Island.)