Charlotte Anne Alexander, teacher, poet and long-time friend, died November 27, 2014, Thanksgiving Day, after a brief illness. Charlotte was born on July 28, 1932 in Evansville, IN, the only child of Ruth and Carson Alexander. She received her undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Indiana University before leaving the Midwest and settling permanently in Manhattan. She devoted her life to teaching poetry and literature at the College of Staten Island (CUNY), where she worked for 45 years before retiring at the age of 80. Additionally, Charlotte was the editor of the literary magazine “The Outerbridge” from 1975 to the year 2000. Her own poetry was published in numerous journals, and has won prizes from The Poetry Society of America and Shenandoah Writers Conference. An anthology of her work, “The Girl on the Trapeze”, was self-published in 2001. Charlotte was married three times, and although divorced, maintained a fondness for her ex-husbands Gene Stone, Stanley Cooperman, and David Taylor, who all have predeceased her. She is survived by her step-daughter, Nan Olsen of Binghamton, NY; Nan’s daughter, Nell Durfee, and her good friends and neighbors in Hallstead PA, who helped care for her during the last few years of her life, Teddy and Karen DeMartino and their sons, TJ and Jonathan. Charlotte loved to get people to talk and laugh, and had a gift for engaging almost anyone in conversation. She will be remembered fondly for her perceptive intelligence, her generosity of spirit, her wit and bawdy sense of humor, joie de vivre, fierce independence and her eccentric style of shopping and gifting to others.
Calling hours will be held Thursday, December 4th, from 4-6 pm at the Allen Memorial Home, 511-513 East Main Street, Endicott. A memorial service will be held in NYC at a time yet to be announced. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Ruth and Carson Alexander Memorial Scholarship Fund through the College of Staten Island English Department at 2800 Victory Blvd., Bldg 2S Room 218, Staten Island, NY 10324.