Sonoe Alexander

Sonoe Alexander was born in Yokohama, Japan, March 23, 1933 to Hatsue and Tsunekichi Iwasaki. Soon after graduating high school, she met Arnold Reid Alexander, who was stationed in Japan during the Korean Conflict. They married in Tokyo, Japan on August 23, 1955. Upon discharge they came back to the United States and made their home in the Sapulpa area where she and husband Arnold reared two sons, Lee and David. Sonoe, who was a self-taught seamtress, began working in alterations in several Tulsa area womens’ clothing stores. She refined her skills and soon became certified as an alteration specialist at Vandever’s and Miss Jackson’s in Utica Square in Tulsa. She retired in 1982 due to health issues. She enjoyed spending time with a small circle of Japanese ladies who came to the U.S. at about the same time as she. She was preceded in death be her parents and by her husband, Arnold Reid Alexander. Surviving siblings include Masatsune Iwasaki, Masaji Iwasaki, Misako Iwasaki, and Hiroko Oliver. She is also survived by her sons: Lee Alexander and wife Janettia of Broken Arrow, OK and David Alexander and wife Ronda of Kellyville, OK, grandchildren: Jeremiah and wife Sara of Collinsville, OK, Justin Alexander and wife Heather of Owasso, OK and Darin Alexander and wife Shelby of Morris, OK, and great-grandchildren Paisley, Keaton, and Josiah. Sonoe passed from this life to her heavenly home on November 12, 2020 in Broken Arrow, OK, where she was cared for by the loving and caring nurses and staff of the Broken Arrow Nursing Home.