Harriette "Elaine" Bowling Alexander.

May 9 ,1934- July20;2024

Forever In our Hearts

Elaine was born at the family farm near Sitka Kansas to Ben Bowling and Iva Mae Sawers Bowling. She was the 6th of 9 children. They remained a close family all their lives. .

Elaine attended school in Ashland, Kansas. Growing up she was very involved in 4-H club and confided later that she felt it taught her many valuable things that she applied throughout her life. She was also a baton twirler with the band in HS and has some cute pictures to prove it. Elaine Graduated from Ashland High School in 1952.

Donald Alexander and Elaine were married July 3rd 1954 at the Methodist church in Ashland Kansas. They made their home in Emporia Kansas. Elaine attended Newman Hospital School of Nursing in Emporia Kansas. She graduated in September 6, 1955 with an RN degree. She worked as an RN for many years in in various fields of nursing.

In December of 1955 Mark, the first of their 4 sons was born, followed by Trent, Darrell and Todd. They moved their family to Wichita Kansas while Don pursued his degree in Engineering. When Don went to work at the Neosho power plant they moved to Parsons and lived at 1311 Morgan Street, a house that is still fondly remembered. The boys all went to school in Parsons and Elaine was a school nurse there. In 1985 they moved to Paola Kansas when Don got a job with the La Cygne power plant. He worked there until retirement in 1991. After Elaine retired, they moved to Overland Park Kansas in 2007 into Tallgrass Creek retirement living.

As a family they did a lot of outdoors activities including camping, fishing, boating, waterskiing- There were also memories of playing board games card games doing crafts and helping in the garden.

The Alexanders were always avid gardeners. This continued even after they moved to Overland Park. Their gardens and flowers were beautiful. Elaine knew how to make the most of what they grew. She froze, canned and dehydrated foods, she also made lots of delicious dishes and treats that everyone looked forward to.

Don and Elaine shared a love of travel. They had many wonderful trips and visited most of the U.S. and parts of Canada. There were also overseas trips and some cruises. They especially loved taking their RV and going on extended road trips

Elaine was a very crafty and creative person and always had a project or 3 going on. She learned to sew on a treadle sewing machine probably at a young age. She was a wonderful seamstress and sewed many clothes for her family when they were younger. At one time She was very into ceramics and working with clay, to the point of even having a kiln in the basement. Somewhere around 1970 Quilting became a passion for her that lasted until she was no longer able to continue. She made hundreds of beautiful quilts and other quilted items. Some were sold in craft shows, many were given to charitable and worthy cause's including quilts for Veterans. Her family have been blessed to receive some of them as gifts that will always be treasured. Elaine also loved to share her knowledge and talent with family and friends. She has taught numerous family members and others the art of quilting and sewing. Her legacy will live on through them. Elaine received several awards for her creations and was featured in the newspaper multiple times. She always belonged to a quilting group or other social group depending on where she was living at the time. They were an important part of her life as she enjoyed people and getting together with likeminded folks. At Tallgrass she made a lot of wonderful friends and was active in multiple groups including quilting. She and Don had always attended a Methodist church wherever they lived and were both very active in their church.