Former Educator Maps Busy Retirement

A lot of seniors take up painting in their retirement years. Today's Benton Evening News profiles a senior citizen who paints on a nation-wide scale. Since 1992, Gene Alexander, known as “Mr. A.” to thousands of school children, has volunteered his time to produce big colorful maps of the United States for schools and other public facilities.

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“The maps are all numbered and dated,” Alexander said. “The 71st map is almost finished and is located at Franklin Early Childhood in Mt. Vernon. I have two more to create in Centralia and one in Radom at St. Michael's School.”

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“After about two months of retirement, I decided I wanted to do something to continue to educate young people,” he said. “I mail letters to school districts and include color copies of maps I have finished. People can't believe I don't want any money for doing this.

Mr. A told the News that creating the maps is a three-phase process that takes between 10 to 12 hours of work.