Frances F. Alexander

Frances Alexander (née Flynn) was an American politician from Beverly, Massachusetts.

Early life Frances Alexander was born on June 16, 1919, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Edward and Nora Flynn. She grew up in Danvers, Massachusetts, and graduated from Holten High School in 1937. In 1942 she married Albert Alexander, an engineer from Beverly, Massachusetts. The couple moved to Beverly in 1946. The Alexanders had four children before they divorced.

In 1982, Alexander was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. During her tenure in the House, Alexander worked to establish the Beverly Senior Center, bring about construction of the Veterans Memorial Bridge between Beverly and Salem, and pass domestic violence legislation. As a member of the Commerce Committee, she worked on small business legislation. After fifteen people were killed in a Beverly rooming house fire, Alexander wrote a bill to require sprinkler systems in boarding houses that accommodated six or more people. The bill passed in 1986. Henry defeated Alexander 8,535 (51.6%) votes to 8,009 (48.4%). Alexander believed that the slow pace of the bridge project might have contributed to her defeat.

Later life and death From 1992 to 2003, Alexander was a member of the board of trustees at Endicott College. In this position she helped oversee the expansion of the college from a two-year all-girls school with 400 students to a four-year co-ed university attended by over 2,000 students. She also served on the board of directors of the North Shore Music Theatre, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, the Beverly Preschool, the Girdler House, and the North Shore Chamber of Commerce.

In 2004, she sold her home in Beverly and moved to Brooksby Village, a senior housing complex in Peabody, Massachusetts. On May 15, 2010, Alexander died at Beverly Hospital following a heart attack.