Adam G. Alexander Jr., 88

Cdr. Adam G. Alexander Jr., known to all as Alex, the father to two and mentor to many, passed quietly in his sleep at the ripe old age of 88, on Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Whitefish.

He was a flyer of planes, an avid skier, a driver of Ford Thunderbirds and a lover of Marty Robbins and Patsy Cline music played loud.

He was born on March 29,1930, in Chillicothe, Ohio, to Adam and Margaret Alexander, and was the youngest of six children. As a child, he was known for head-butting his sisters in the belly, and his incredible ability to always come home with a frog. Alex took his first flight in a Stearman crop-duster when he was 16 years old and knew he wanted to be a pilot. He enlisted in the Navy the moment he graduated, and was assigned to Olathe Kansas for Control Tower Operator training. It was there he met a World War II Ace named Wilbur “Spider” Webb, who got him into flight training. In 1950, he received his pilot’s wings and his commission as ensign. In 1951, he was assigned to VP9, to be stationed in Korea.

On a troop ship to Japan in 1952, he met the love of his life, Capt. Lois Elaine Moffat, an Army MASH nurse on her way to Korea. They were married in 1957. They raised two children, and were together until her passing in 1998.

In 1965, he was assigned to Lockheed in Burbank, California, to work on the P-3C Orion project, as a design consultant and test pilot. While there he was contacted by the Air Force to, through the Navy, help put together a squadron and retrofit the P2V Neptune to fly jungle missions in Vietnam, whose official designation was to be called VO67. Over a 30-year career in the Navy, he flew in many squadrons, but VO67 was the one he was most proud of. The top secret mission was declassified in 1998, and through the help of two others, was able to reunite the squadron, and eventually get the recognition they deserved. In 2008, he and the squadron were awarded a Presidential Unit Citation in Washington, D.C.

Alex always considered Whitefish his home. He passed through the town in 1969 on his way to an assignment in Kodiak, Alaska. While in Kodiak, he bought land on Teakettle Mountain, and settled in Whitefish after he retired in 1977. Never one to lay around, he enrolled in the Forestry Sciences program at Flathead Valley Community College, ran his own tree farm on Teakettle, skied Big Mountain, was an owner in Creative Kitchens, and sold land for Century 21, when a stroke finally told him it was time to fully retire. Alex used the stroke and an excuse to get into better shape, was a fixture in the gyms of Whitefish and on the slopes of Blacktail Mountain until he was 81 years old.

He is survived by his two sons, Adam Gregg III and wife Davina of Whitefish, and Curtis Graham of Portland; and his sister, Naomi Jean Bumen, of Chillicothe.

A celebration of his life will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, at the Whitefish Community Center.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his name can be made to the VO67 Scholarship Fund either through the family or VO-67.org