Vereen Alexander always wanted to serve her country in the armed services. So just before her 60th birthday, she did the next best thing she could think of: She joined the Georgia State Defense Force.
“I was somewhat surprised that my mom joined the Defense Force because of her age,” said her son, W. Walker Alexander, who lives in Marietta. “But I was not really surprised given her temperament.”
To describe Alexander as an active woman would almost be an understatement, family and friends said. She was enrolled in martial arts classes and was preparing for a six-week long African safari.
“She was something else,” said her neighbor, Gary Duerstock. “Life was fun with her, because you never knew what you were going to get.”
Vereen Alexander of Atlanta died Aug. 6 after she was found unresponsive at her home and could not be revived. She was 70.
A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at A.S. Turner & Sons, Decatur, which is in charge of arrangements.
Professionally Alexander was an entrepreneur, her son said. She had an undergraduate degree from Tulane University’s women’s college and an MBA from Georgia State University. She worked in marketing and real estate investments, he said. Alexander was also an avid traveler, which fueled her love of languages.
“She taught me that you should always know the basics of ‘please,’ ‘thank you’ and things like that,” Walker Alexander said, of language and international travel. “But she would always find a class to take. She never tired of learning, it seemed.”
For the past 10 years, the Defense Force had become a focal part of Alexander’s life, he said. She participated in different exercises and simulations. At the time of her death, Alexander was a major in the volunteer, unpaid branch of the Georgia Department of Defense. During her work with the Force, she traveled across the country, including to New Orleans to provide aid to Katrina survivors.
“She was a mother, a warrior, and explorer,” her son said.
Alexander was also quite involved in her neighborhood association, Duerstock said.
“If there was something that was going to be done in the neighborhood, you were going to understand there was another side to it after Vereen did her research,” he said, with a hearty laugh. “She would make her notes and do her research and then present what she found. She was a really unique person. She was a bright spot in my life, and now it is a little darker in my life since she’s been gone.”
In addition to her son, Alexander is survived by her brothers, Thomas B. Daniel of Atlanta and Donald G. Daniel of Winchester, Mass.; and sister, Flora Daniel of Savannah.
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