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id, aliases, tags, title, url, source, description
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Rev. William Alexander And Wife Killed In Airplane Crash | https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2193346/ | Durant Daily Democrat (Durant, Okla.), Vol. 59, No. 172, Ed. 1 Monday, April 4, 1960 | Frontpage newspaper article noting the accidental death of Rev. Dr. William Hamilton Bill Alexander and his wife Marylouise. |
Rev. William Alexander And Wife Killed In Airplane Crash
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CAMP HILL Pa. (UPI)-- A former chaplain of the Republican party who was an unsuccessful candidate for U. S. Senator in 1950 was killed with two other persons Sunday night in the crash of a private plane.
The victims were identified as the Rev. Dr. William H. Alexander, pastor of the First Christian Church of Oklahoma City, his wife, and N. S. Schumman of Enid, Okla., the pilot.
Alexander, a night club entertainer before he went into the ministry, was en route to Hershey, Pa. to open a three-day conference of the Pennsylvania Association of Chief School Administrators at the Milton Hershey School.
The six-seat plane crashed into a row of trucks at a dairy moments after receiving clearance to land, officials at the Harrisburg York airport said.
Named GOP Chaplain
Alexander was defeated by Sen. A. S. Mike Moroney in his bid for the Senate. He was named chaplain of the republican party in 1952.
Alexander, a fiery red head, combined hollywood glamour and politics with his career in the ministry.
When cowboy movie star Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were married, Alexander donned a cowboy outfit and flew to a ranch near Gene Autry, Okla., to perform the ceremony.
Several years earlier he had turned down a $1,000 - per-week movie contract in Hollywood.
Alexander, born Jan. 10, 1915 in Shelbyville, Mo., attended the University of Missouri and played football there in 1932 and 1934. He dropped out to take up his night club act but entered the ministry a year later.
First Church at Stroud?
He was divorced by his first wife Chrisie, now remarried and living in Denver, after they had three children. The divorce was granted in July 1952.
Two years later, he married Marylouise Rowsey, of Park City, Ky., and adopted her daughter by a previous marriage. Marylouise was killed in the crash with him.
His first church was at Stroud, Okla., where he gained statewide fame through a radio service. In 1941, he was sent to Los Angeles as a pastor of the McCarty Memorial church there, and in 1941 went to Oklahoma City, where he built the First Christian Church, dubbed the "Church of Tomorrow" when it was completed in 1956 for $2 million.
He was in demand throughout the nation as a public speaker, and it has been reported that his speaking engagements earned him as much as $40,000 per year.