Stephen Alexander

Some of you may remember Leslie Merchant, a Denison gal, whom I dated while at Kenyon; we married in August after our graduation. She and I had our honeymoon on the way to Alexandria, Virginia, where I entered the Virginia Theological Semen-ary, as I like to spell it. I was ordained an Episcopal priest and served churches in Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, East Carolina and Kentucky. Incidentally, did you know there were four in our class who were ordained in the Episcopal Church? Surely this was not caused by compulsory chapel our freshman year; although I went on Sundays anyway, I hated the compulsory part and went with my Jewish friends to their Friday night observances in Philo Hall to get my chit. I can’t speak for the other three, but the truth is, attending services at the Holy Spirit was very important in my life formation. Anyhow, I’ve had a wonderful, eventful fun-filled life as a result of my time in the church. I’ve been to fantastic places, known lots of lovely people, done and seen many astounding things; I wouldn’t trade my life with anyone. Leslie and I had two children along the way, George Currier and Starratt Elizabeth, now quite grown, and a great joy to me; they live nearby–we try to gather most Sundays. Alas, I had to take early medical retirement in ’98, and my Leslie died in 2003 after a six year struggle with breast cancer. I should be dead too–I have been virtually dead three times, but as I like to say, it’s hard to keep a good man down. I have learned to live around my med problems. For example, although I can no longer dance, I belong to a vintage dance group that gathers for balls and demonstrations in period costume, what I call play clothes. I’m sorta the mascot and they like me because I give great dinners they enjoy coming to; I like to entertain and am good at it (well, I was rush/party chairman for Dee Phi). My extremely Suthryn Belle mother left me tons of silver/china/linens, so what can I do? Besides, I live on the ninth floor of a great hi-rise condo in Cincinnati that looks out on the hills of Kentucky and is perfect for accommodating a fun crowd. If that sounds good to you, feel free to visit me anytime (do call first!). I hope to come to the reunion, and will sign up for it. However, on May 29th, my daughter Starratt is expecting–are you sitting down?–twins–my first grandchildren–so I may be otherwise occupied.