Dale Alexander, avid flier, remembered as 'one of kindest men that anybody has ever known'

 

Dale Alexander

RICHLAND, MI — Dale Alexander loved to travel in an aircraft he built. He also loved helping friends and family any way he could.

"He could build anything, he could fix anything," said Alexander's wife, Michelle. "He loved to fly and bicycle ride and play golf and read. He was always reading to keep up on everything whether it was politics or airplane stuff."

Alexander, 68, of Richland, died Saturday after he was struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle near Fort Custer.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Alexander served in the Navy from 1969 to 1971 as a parachute rigger in Meridian, Miss.  He then studied at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida for two years before coming to Michigan where he accepted a job as a pilot in Greenville, his wife said.

In 1976, Alexander accepted a job as a pilot with Sunstrand in Dowagiac where he met his wife, who worked as a flight scheduler.

They got married in 1980, the same year Dale Alexander accepted a job with the aviation division of the Kellogg Co. in Battle Creek, his wife said.

"Dale was such a conscientious person about his work," she said. "He started at Kellogg's in June (1980) and we did not get married until Dec. 24 because he wouldn't ask his boss for a day off."

While at Kellogg, Alexander was the first pilot to travel internationally as Kellogg expanded into international markets, his wife said.

"He was the first one to go with the chief pilot on an international trip to Mexico," Michelle Alexander said. "That was the start of their international travels."

While traveling the world as a pilot at Kellogg Aviation, Dale started building his own airplane, a two-place Van's Aircraft RV-4, in the basement of their home in Battle Creek, his wife said.

"He finished our plane in 1991," she said. "When we turned 50, in 1996, we decided to go to Alaska in the RV-4. It was pretty amazing."
The trip was unique, his wife said, because they wore out and had to replace three of the aircraft's propellers at various points along the journey.

Dale Alexander and his wife, Michelle, in front of the Van's Aircraft RV-4 that Dale finished building in 1991.

While traveling across Michigan and the United States with family and friends, Dale Alexander was always working on aviation-related projects with his friends in addition to home improvement projects, his wife said.

"After he built our plane, he helped our friend over in Schoolcraft build his plane," she said. "We had another friend in Battle Creek and helped build his plane. Both of them told him they would have quit if it wouldn't have been for him. If somebody needed something, he'd be there to help them.

"He finished our basement and we have the most beautiful theater. He remodeled our kitchen. What was a carport he turned into a family room. Everything he did was excellent. There was no flaws with anything he ever did in his life."

In addition to flying every chance he got, Dale Alexander loved riding his bike.

"He's been riding his bicycle for 20 years," his wife said. "He would ride from our house over to the Kellogg hangar and back. He would ride 23 miles in two hours."

Visitation will be held at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 6 at the Baxter Funeral & Cremation Service, 375 W. Dickman Road, followed by a memorial service at 11:30 a.m. officiated by Father Brian Coleman.

Internment will take place at Fort Custer National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial tributes may be made to the Air Zoo.

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