Olive was the daughter of John D. and Gladys O'Neill.
She was one of the first women in the country to receive training as a pilot through the federal civilian pilot training (CPT) program in 1941. The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Association, predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, created the CPT program in response to the large-scale flight training of civilians by Nazi Germany and Italy in the years leading up to World War II. At the age of 20, Alexander (then Olive O'Neill) was one of a small number of woman to qualify nationwide through competitive testing for a CPT scholarship and the first women in her hometown of Darien, Conn., to hold a private pilot's license. Soon after, as America prepared to enter the war, women were barred from CPT participation. "I just got in under the wire," she told her hometown newspaper at the time. She was one of five pilots in her family, including her uncle, father and two of her brothers, who became known locally as "the flying O'Neills."
In 1942, nine months after Pearl Harbor, Alexander enlisted in the Navy as a WAVE, later transferring to the Coast Guard as a radioman, third class, stationed in Boston. She married a Marine officer she met during the war, Gerard Alexander, who went on to a distinguished career in business as a manager at Dupont in Wilmington, Del., and later as president of the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co. in Akron, Ohio.
Olive Alexander was a resident of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., for 35 years, having lived previously in Akron, Ohio, and West Chester, Pa. She was an ardent golfer with the unusual distinction of shooting a "hole-in-one" on two occasions. She was active in the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society and Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club for many years.
She is survived by three daughters, Karen Doub and husband, John C. Doub, of Marblehead, Mass., Nancy Morrison and husband, William B. Morrison, of Bow and Janet Alexander and husband, Gary Strange, of Boynton Beach, Fla.; a son, John Alexander and fiancée, Karen Iannone, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; four grandchildren, Alex Morrison of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Lawrie Morrison of Gainesville, Fla., and John A. Doub and Kelsey Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; one great-grandchild, John A. Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; and two brothers, Walter Peter O'Neill of Macau, China, and Jack O'Neill of Overland Park, Kan.
[Info from the Concord Monitor with DOB provided by FAG Contributor Jack Williams
She was one of the first women in the country to receive training as a pilot through the federal civilian pilot training (CPT) program in 1941. The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Association, predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, created the CPT program in response to the large-scale flight training of civilians by Nazi Germany and Italy in the years leading up to World War II. At the age of 20, Alexander (then Olive O'Neill) was one of a small number of woman to qualify nationwide through competitive testing for a CPT scholarship and the first women in her hometown of Darien, Conn., to hold a private pilot's license. Soon after, as America prepared to enter the war, women were barred from CPT participation. "I just got in under the wire," she told her hometown newspaper at the time. She was one of five pilots in her family, including her uncle, father and two of her brothers, who became known locally as "the flying O'Neills."
In 1942, nine months after Pearl Harbor, Alexander enlisted in the Navy as a WAVE, later transferring to the Coast Guard as a radioman, third class, stationed in Boston. She married a Marine officer she met during the war, Gerard Alexander, who went on to a distinguished career in business as a manager at Dupont in Wilmington, Del., and later as president of the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co. in Akron, Ohio.
Olive Alexander was a resident of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., for 35 years, having lived previously in Akron, Ohio, and West Chester, Pa. She was an ardent golfer with the unusual distinction of shooting a "hole-in-one" on two occasions. She was active in the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society and Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club for many years.
She is survived by three daughters, Karen Doub and husband, John C. Doub, of Marblehead, Mass., Nancy Morrison and husband, William B. Morrison, of Bow and Janet Alexander and husband, Gary Strange, of Boynton Beach, Fla.; a son, John Alexander and fiancée, Karen Iannone, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; four grandchildren, Alex Morrison of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Lawrie Morrison of Gainesville, Fla., and John A. Doub and Kelsey Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; one great-grandchild, John A. Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; and two brothers, Walter Peter O'Neill of Macau, China, and Jack O'Neill of Overland Park, Kan.
[Info from the Concord Monitor with DOB provided by FAG Contributor Jack Williams
Olive was the daughter of John D. and Gladys O'Neill.
She was one of the first women in the country to receive training as a pilot through the federal civilian pilot training (CPT) program in 1941. The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Association, predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, created the CPT program in response to the large-scale flight training of civilians by Nazi Germany and Italy in the years leading up to World War II. At the age of 20, Alexander (then Olive O'Neill) was one of a small number of woman to qualify nationwide through competitive testing for a CPT scholarship and the first women in her hometown of Darien, Conn., to hold a private pilot's license. Soon after, as America prepared to enter the war, women were barred from CPT participation. "I just got in under the wire," she told her hometown newspaper at the time. She was one of five pilots in her family, including her uncle, father and two of her brothers, who became known locally as "the flying O'Neills."
In 1942, nine months after Pearl Harbor, Alexander enlisted in the Navy as a WAVE, later transferring to the Coast Guard as a radioman, third class, stationed in Boston. She married a Marine officer she met during the war, Gerard Alexander, who went on to a distinguished career in business as a manager at Dupont in Wilmington, Del., and later as president of the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co. in Akron, Ohio.
Olive Alexander was a resident of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., for 35 years, having lived previously in Akron, Ohio, and West Chester, Pa. She was an ardent golfer with the unusual distinction of shooting a "hole-in-one" on two occasions. She was active in the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society and Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club for many years.
She is survived by three daughters, Karen Doub and husband, John C. Doub, of Marblehead, Mass., Nancy Morrison and husband, William B. Morrison, of Bow and Janet Alexander and husband, Gary Strange, of Boynton Beach, Fla.; a son, John Alexander and fiancée, Karen Iannone, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; four grandchildren, Alex Morrison of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Lawrie Morrison of Gainesville, Fla., and John A. Doub and Kelsey Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; one great-grandchild, John A. Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; and two brothers, Walter Peter O'Neill of Macau, China, and Jack O'Neill of Overland Park, Kan.
[Info from the Concord Monitor with DOB provided by FAG Contributor Jack Williams
She was one of the first women in the country to receive training as a pilot through the federal civilian pilot training (CPT) program in 1941. The U.S. Civil Aeronautics Association, predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, created the CPT program in response to the large-scale flight training of civilians by Nazi Germany and Italy in the years leading up to World War II. At the age of 20, Alexander (then Olive O'Neill) was one of a small number of woman to qualify nationwide through competitive testing for a CPT scholarship and the first women in her hometown of Darien, Conn., to hold a private pilot's license. Soon after, as America prepared to enter the war, women were barred from CPT participation. "I just got in under the wire," she told her hometown newspaper at the time. She was one of five pilots in her family, including her uncle, father and two of her brothers, who became known locally as "the flying O'Neills."
In 1942, nine months after Pearl Harbor, Alexander enlisted in the Navy as a WAVE, later transferring to the Coast Guard as a radioman, third class, stationed in Boston. She married a Marine officer she met during the war, Gerard Alexander, who went on to a distinguished career in business as a manager at Dupont in Wilmington, Del., and later as president of the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co. in Akron, Ohio.
Olive Alexander was a resident of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., for 35 years, having lived previously in Akron, Ohio, and West Chester, Pa. She was an ardent golfer with the unusual distinction of shooting a "hole-in-one" on two occasions. She was active in the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society and Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club for many years.
She is survived by three daughters, Karen Doub and husband, John C. Doub, of Marblehead, Mass., Nancy Morrison and husband, William B. Morrison, of Bow and Janet Alexander and husband, Gary Strange, of Boynton Beach, Fla.; a son, John Alexander and fiancée, Karen Iannone, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; four grandchildren, Alex Morrison of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Lawrie Morrison of Gainesville, Fla., and John A. Doub and Kelsey Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; one great-grandchild, John A. Doub of Marblehead, Mass.; and two brothers, Walter Peter O'Neill of Macau, China, and Jack O'Neill of Overland Park, Kan.
[Info from the Concord Monitor with DOB provided by FAG Contributor Jack Williams
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