William Edward "Bill" Alexander
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William Edward "Bill" Alexander died peacefully at home following a long illness on December 17, 2021 at age 59.
Bill was born on May 17, 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi, to the late Dr. John Davidson Alexander and the Rev. Jane Biggs Alexander. He was educated in the Texarkana, Texas, public school system and at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Mississippi. His adult years were spent in the fields of sales and management, primarily in the state of Florida. In addition to being a person who rarely met a stranger, he was known among family and friends as an outstanding cook and as an avid fisherman. He loved the sun, the water, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Florida State Seminoles. He had a remarkable range of knowledge that was not only broad but deep, and in the last few years had become a keen and daily solver of the New York Times crossword puzzle, which he approached with the "tenacity of a bulldog."
His grace and good humor in the face of his dreadful and debilitating illness were truly an inspiration to all who knew him. And it should be noted that while he was a genuine "people" person, he did not suffer fools or the New England Patriots gladly, and found himself in the midst of a genuine moral quandary when Tom Brady left New England for Florida to quarterback for the Bucs.
In addition to his father, he was predeceased by his grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Byron Alexander and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Biggs, all of Jackson, MS, and by his sister, Virginia Alexander Johansen of Ocean Springs, MS. He is survived by his three children, Master Sergeant Christopher Raymond McCarty, Washington, D.C.; William Steven Alexander, Covington, LA; and Haily Rene Alexander, Tarpon Springs, FL; by his mother Jane Alexander, Jackson, MS; his brother, John Brook Alexander, PhD, and his wife, Jana, Durham, NC; his aunts, Lynn Biggs Jenkins and Elizabeth Biggs Allin, Jackson, MS; the mother of his three children, Sandra McCarty DeBellevue; and several nieces and nephews.
A Requiem Eucharist will be celebrated at 11:00 am on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Jackson, MS, following a visitation at 10:00 am in St. Francis Hall. Bill's ashes will be placed in the St. Andrew's Columbarium at the conclusion of the service.