Nina Mae Wissner Alexander

Nina Mae Wissner Alexander died October 27, 2024 at the age of 93. She was born into a very large, welcoming family as the 9th of 13 children. As opposed to most middle children, Nina made it her life goal to fly under the radar and unnoticed as much as possible. And yet her quiet faith in her Lord, love for her family and spirit of serving others made that goal impossible as she was loved by many who regarded her as a hard working, elegant pillar of strength and love.

She was born on October 15, 1931, in Kilmanagh, Michigan to the late Fred and Myrtle Wissner. As a hard-working farm family, Nina often shared how they crept through the sugar beet fields on hands and knees thinning out the beets. Since no harvesting equipment existed at that time, she often spoke of clanking the beets together by hand to get the dirt off and then moving the piles of harvested sugar beets 3 different times during the process. That made such an impression on her that throughout her life, working any task as efficiently as possible was a top priority. She saw no reason to make tasks harder than they needed to be. Nina attended Kilmanagh Lutheran School through 8th grade and graduated from Owendale High School in 1949.

In 1952, she married Frank Alexander. Many people questioned her choice of the rather energetic & lively young man, but love won out and she followed every one of his dreams through owning a hardware store, building the Owendale Speedway, raising pigs, crop farming and the final dream of training Harness Horses. Throughout their journey together, Nina created a home where they raised 6 children, and she took pride in creating delicious meals & baked goods for them. In 1968 they left their hometown of Owendale, Michigan to pursue Frank’s dream of training Harness Horses. This opened a whole new world to Nina that she didn’t exactly welcome, especially because she had to leave her beloved large family and her large rhubarb patch behind. Nonetheless, she continued to nurture her children, her large garden and her rhubarb transplants through several moves.

The family moved to Fenton in 1975 where their family continued to grow and bring many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When Frank died in 1995 and there was no longer barn work to do, she loved “digging in the dirt” weeding her flower gardens & tending her lawn. Her house was often filled with the chatter of her grandchildren & they all knew where to find the cookies, caramel rolls and stashes of candy in the corner cabinet. It was her way of interacting with each one of them and sharing her wisdom with them. Every one of the grandchildren were “her favorite” and they reminded her of that often.

Shortly after moving to Fenton, Nina joined Trinity Lutheran Church where she served on the Altar Guild and used her ability to cook for a crowd in the church kitchen. For many years, she organized, shopped and served the funeral dinners at Trinity with the help of the friends she had made there. She continued serving funeral dinners until age 91 and continued coaching “the newbies” through the process from home. At 91, she was finally convinced that driving her car was also not a good choice and she begrudgingly gave it up. She however kept her car until the week before she passed “just in case she needed it.”

Nina is survived by four sons: Randy (Laurie) Alexander of Fenton, MI Brian (Kim) Alexander of Linden, MI, Brent (Tammy) Alexander of Flushing, MI and Kirk (Michele) Alexander of Escanaba, MI, one daughter DeAnn Alexander of Fenton, MI and daughter-in-law Julie (Joe) Tidwell of Linden, MI. Nina was a beloved grandma to 16 grandchildren: Travis Alexander, Jenn Alexander, Beren Alexander, Derk Oslund, Jason Alexander, Jamie Cirka, Ashley Edmunds, Kyle Oslund, Elissa Traux, Emily Martina, Katie Bickford, Alison VanRyckeghem, Annie Fletcher, Jordan Alexander, Cody Alexander and Robbie Alexander. She also treasured her 19 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her baby sister Patricia Sontag of Cass City, MI and an abundance of nieces & nephews.

Nina was proceeded in death by her husband Frank Alexander and son Mark Alexander, parents Fred & Myrtle Wissner, 5 brothers: Owen Wissner, Glen Wissner, Don Wissner, Gerald Wissner and Ken Wissner and 6 sisters: Esther Cochrane, Vernita McPhail, Milda Polley, Aldine Voss, Arleen Ross and Maxine Winter.

A special thank you to daughter-in-law Julie Tidwell who was able to be Nina’s Hospice Nurse, Compassus Hospice staff and all of her friends at Trinity Lutheran Church.

Visitation will be on Friday, November 8 from 10AM to 12PM at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1025 Main St., Fenton. The funeral service will begin at 12PM. She will be laid to rest next to Frank in Grant Township Cemetery in Gagetown, Michigan on Saturday, November 9th. The committal service will take place at 11AM.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Nina M Alexander Revocable Trust to be distributed by at a later time by the family. Arrangements are entrusted to Sharp Funeral Homes, Fenton Chapel, 1000 Silver Lake Rd., Fenton. Tributes may be shared at www.sharpfunerallhomes.com.