Katherine “Aunt Kitty” Thompson Alexander
1838 - 1909
Census records vary, but Kitty reported that she was born during the 1830s in Kentucky. Her husband was Alfred Alexander, but he has not yet been found in any records. In the 1900 federal census, Kitty said that she had ten children and eight were still alive.
The four known children are James, Julia, Lena, and Vina, all buried in Fairview Cemetery. A possible fifth child might be the teenaged Mr. Alexander who died in 1884 and has one of the few early Clay County death certificates. He is most likely buried at Fairview.
In 1869, the students at William Jewell College deemed the dining hall meals too terrible to eat so the administration decided to hand over the kitchen management to a small ministerial group of students. Katherine Thompson Alexander was hired to cook and keep house for the residential students.
In 1927, one student reminisced that besides providing three meals a day, “Aunt Kitty” also nursed the sick boys, lent them money, and quoted scripture. A William Jewell correspondent with The Word and Way newspaper occasionally reported Kitty’s doings. When a new cooking range was installed in the fall of 1897, the reporter noted that Kitty said she had worn out three previous stoves. With the new stove, Kitty cooked the Thanksgiving feast and a student delivered a speech entitled, “Aunt Kitty, the Model Cook.”
In the 1900 federal census, Kitty was documented as living at 344 North Gallatin Street. The house no longer stands, but it is near where the First Baptist Church stands today. She was retired at that point, and she owned her house with no mortgage. Her two daughters Lena and Vina lived with her as well as Lena’s daughters Catie and Emma, students at Garrison School, and baby Ora.
On December 9, 1909, Kitty Alexander died at her home. Although retired for ten years, William Jewell College remembered their beloved Aunt Kitty, and its news correspondent distributed an obituary for her that was printed in Missouri newspapers in Cassville, Kansas City, De Soto, New Madrid, Tuscumbia, as well as Topeka, Kansas.
A picture of her was printed in the May 1910 edition of "The Tatler". Since support staff was never featured in the early decades, this decision was significant.
It was said that she frequently hoped aloud that “her boys” would honor her with a headstone after she died. People remembered that, and in the fall of 1910, the alumni of William Jewell College announced in The Word and Way newspaper that a collection was being taken to fund a headstone for Kitty. The headstone can be visited today at Fairview Cemetery, Block 12a.
Front: Erected to the memory of Aunt Kitty by her boys
Back: Aunt Kitty Alexander
Aunt Kitty was a cook for William Jewell College Boarding Club for more than 25 years and she often said her boys would erect her monument. This modest stone stands as a realization of her faith in those to whom she ministered. She was a daughter of Ham but she made glad many a son of Japheth.
Years after Kitty's death, William Jewell alumni and faculty continued recalling and quoting her. In 1912, Professor R.P. Rider recalled how Kitty would say that she kept the boys in line by hitting them with the truth. Des Moines University President John W. Million reported in 1923 that he still carried a 50-cent coin that Aunt Kitty gave to him upon his graduation from William Jewell. She meant for him to use the coin to help pay for his education at Johns Hopkins, but instead he carried it in his pocket as a symbol of encouragement. In 1927, former student Dr. J.C. Armstrong reminisced that besides providing three meals a day, Kitty also nursed the sick boys, lent them money, and quoted scripture.
What an amazing role model Katherine Thompson Alexander was to these students who grew up to lead subsequent generations. They felt comforted by her when they were away from home for the first time. They matured under her structure. They were guided by her faith and principles and remembered decades later what she said to them. She took care of them and did a good job of it too. Long after they graduated, they remembered her one wish for a headstone, and it was an honor for them to make it happen.