Iza "Gerry" Geraldine Alexander

Geraldine Alexander dies Wed.; over 400 attend services in Lusk

Mrs. Floyd Alexander, 48, teacher in Niobrara County schools for nearly 30 years, died last Wednesday night at 9:45 at the Spencer Hospital. She had been hospitalized since January 16 as the result of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Four hundred persons crowded the Peet Chapel beyond capacity Saturday afternoon for the funeral services to pay tribute to a women who had served them well. It was the largest crowd ever present at the chapel.

The funeral service was conducted by the Rev. Edward Poser, minister of the Manville Community Alliance Church. Pallbearers were Gus Johnson, Bert Kaper, N.V. Lamb, Hugh McLean, Dallas Swisher, and Elmer Nelson. Music was provided by a trio-composed of Mrs. Poser, Mr. and Mrs. Beryl Fullerton who sang "God Will Take Care of You" and "In The Garden" and the duet by Mrs. A. F. DeCastro and Mrs. Emerson Bonner singing "Beyond the Sunset." Mrs. DeCastro was also organist.

Recognition as a teacher came to Mrs. Alexander when she was elected president of the Central Wyoming Education Association at the annual meeting in October held in Casper. This made her a delegate to the National Convention in Detroit in July which she planned to attend.

By special invitation from State Superintendent Velma Linford she had taken part in the dedication ceremony of the Wyoming School for the deaf at Casper on January 2.

Began Teaching in 1933

She was best known by the nickname of Gerry. She began her teaching career in Keeline in the fall of 1933 and it was through her nearly 30 years of serving Niobrara County schools, she became endeared to so many.

Fifteen of these years she taught at Manville but she followed children wherever and in whatever they were active and thus she could just as well be found keeping score at an American Legion junior baseball game or at a junior high basketball game as listening to a music festival.

Though she kept at her college work through the years, it was not until 1958 that she received a BS degree in elementary education after a full year of study at Chadron State Teachers College. That fall she was named principal of the Manville Grade School and has served in that capacity since.

She was born Iza Geraldine Cogdill in Stanberry, Mo. on December 31, 1914, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Cogdill. She moved with her parents to Manville in 1918 where she has lived since.

She attended school at Manville and graduated there as valedictorian of the class of 1932. She married Floyd I. Alexander in Harrison, on June 16, 1934. They had one son Dan, a teacher at Poison Spider and living in Casper. Also surviving are her husband; three brothers, Ivan and Bob of Oak Harbor, Wash., and Don Cogdill of Compton, Calif., and three sisters, Maxine Amick of Billings, Mont., Marian Pfister of Lusk, and Shirley Kline of Worland. Her paternal grandfather, S. A. Wilkerson of Stanberry, Mo. is also living.

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