Paul Harrison Alexander, 93, passed away on July 4, 2026, in Fenton, Missouri.

Paul, the son of Fred Augustus Alexander and Anna Shattuck Alexander, was born on January 29, 1933, in Caroline, New York. He was the second of six children born to Fred and Anna.

On August 24, 1956, Paul married his beloved wife, Lorraine Johnson, in Sandstone, Minnesota. In June 1958, after Paul graduated from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, they moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where Paul served as the pastor at a small church that was first known as Bible Presbyterian Church. Later the church changed its name to Reformed Presbyterian Church, and then to its current name Westminster Presbyterian Church. He served there for 43 years until they “retired” in June 2001.

While serving as a pastor in Huntsville, in 1964 Paul and Lorraine played an instrumental role in starting a Christian school in Huntsville, first known as Reformed Presbyterian Day School, then later renamed as Westminster Christian Academy. Westminster has grown to over 900 students with two campuses. Paul also found time to serve on the board of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri for 20 years.

When Paul and Lorraine retired from Westminster Presbyterian Church in June 2001, they moved to Odessa, Ukraine, joining Mission to the World’s team working with the Ukrainian churches. They worked together in Ukraine for the next five years where they made many dear friends among the Ukrainian people. After Lorraine developed a serious health issue, they were unable to continue living in Ukraine fulltime, but for the next seven years Paul traveled to Ukraine periodically.

Paul had a great love of the outdoors. He spent time spelunking in the caves of north Alabama and even took his young children into the deep, dark abysses and through passageways known as the “Blue Crawl.” Vegetable gardening was another way he kept his sanity while at the same time keeping his children occupied during the hot summer months, allowing them to share in the joys of shoveling manure, stepping on slimy slugs with their bare feet, rototilling, picking pole beans, and learning to differentiate between copperheads, rattlesnakes, and grass snakes. Trips to Dr. Ivey’s rustic cabin on Bingham Mountain in the foothills of the Appalachians in North Alabama gave him the opportunity to show off his building skills. He helped build a small pole barn shelter, an outhouse, and an outdoor shower with water supplied by a 55-gallon drum that had to be manually filled by bringing buckets of water from a nearby pond. He shared these trips into the wild with his children, his wife (who cooked like a champion in very rustic conditions), and teens from the church and from a neighborhood near the church.

Anyone who spent time with Paul knew that the grace of God demonstrated powerfully in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ was the solid foundation of his life. He spent his life preaching and teaching these precious truths every chance he got, whether from a pulpit or a kitchen table. It was his only hope in life and in death. While we will miss Dad (and Mom) greatly we take great comfort in knowing they both experienced God’s grace and mercy in their lives and are now with their Savior.

Paul was preceded in death by his beloved wife Lorraine of 66 years; his parents, Fred and Anna Alexander; his two brothers and three sisters; his grandson, Jakob Yount and his granddaughter, Gabrielle Alexander.

He is survived by his four children, Junia Haas and husband David of Fenton, MO; Charysse Alexander of Atlanta, GA; DeAnn Yount and husband Brian of Festus, MO; and Gregory Alexander and wife Rachel of Sugar Land, TX; 9 grandchildren: Heather Spanogle (Jeff), Joanna Hancock (Adam), Sarah Haas, Philip Haas (Rebecca), Ethan Yount, Natalie Alexander, Adrienne Alexander, Ben Alexander, and Vivienne Alexander; eight great-grandchildren: Lydia, Elias, Titus, and Caleb Spanogle; Ezra, Micah, and Jonah Hancock; and Elsie Haas; many nieces and nephews; other relatives; and many friends.

His funeral service will be held on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at 2 p.m. at Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, 9124 Sappington Road, St. Louis, MO 63126, with Reverend Jeffrey Meyers officiating. Following the service, there will be an opportunity to visit with the family at a reception at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages you to make Memorial donations to either Westminster Christian Academy of 237 Johns Road, Huntsville, AL 35806 (https://www.wca-hsv.org/) or to Crates for Ukraine (Mission to the World: https://mtw.org/projects/details/p-0698-crates-for-ukraine/ ). Crates for Ukraine is a ministry of MTW’s Lviv team in partnership with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine.