Alexander S. Pope, Jr.
1925-2006

Alexander Pope Jr., a funeral director, limousine service operator and business leader of Temple Hills, MD passed away quietly on the morning of April 18th, 2006, surrounded by loved ones.

Alexander Snead Pope, Jr. was born March 31, 1925, in Washington, DC. He was the only child to Alexander Snead Pope, Sr. and Mary Elign Reynolds Pope who operated a funeral business in Southeast D.C. Alexander was baptized at St. Cyprian’s Parish and attended grade school at Charles Young Elementary, then attended Browne Junior High and Dunbar High School, where he graduated at 16 in 1942. At a young age, he joined his father’s business by manning the telephones so his father could come home for dinner. Alexander showed his entrepreneurial streak while in junior high; he built an Evening Star delivery route into a miniature empire, hiring other youths to carry papers on a fleet of 16 bicycles bought at Western Auto.

Alexander was a Boy Scout; during the 1938 jamboree that brought thousands of scouts to D.C., he served as a guide at the White House, where he shook hands with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. When World War II broke out, he served as an air raid warden in Anacostia, overseeing the bicycle-messenger brigade.

After graduating Dunbar High School, Alexander enrolled at Howard University in engineering and architecture, aiming to be able to design and build a funeral home. But the United States Army Air Forces requested his presence in 1943. He served first at Kearns Field near Salt Lake City Utah and then later at MacDill Field near Tampa, Florida. He was honorably discharged in 1946 as a Sergeant Major.

Upon returning home, Alexander left D.C. for Philadelphia to attend his father’s alma mater, Eckels College of Mortuary Science, which later became affiliated with Temple University. He returned a year later, diploma in hand, to begin a two-year apprenticeship with his father. While working with his father, he also worked as a scientific illustrator for the Navy and Commerce departments.

Alexander founded a vehicle for hire service which he called Mortuary Service Associates. He paid $4,200 for a used LaSalle limousine and rented it to other funeral homes. This business, which later became Limousine Service Associates (LSA), thrived in the late ‘50s thru the early ‘70s as it expanded its business to such high-profile clientele as the White House, the Jackson Five, John F. Kennedy, Marjorie Merriwether Post, Frank Sinatra, New York Times bureau chief James Reston, and Howard Hughes. Hughes Tool would book three cars at a time and encourage the Pope drivers not to be inquisitive. LSA served as the transportation coordinator for funerals for both President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. After his father died of a heart attack in 1956, Alexander took over the Funeral business and operated it with his mother, who did the bookkeeping.

In 1964, a year shy of turning 40, Alexander married Sandra Quillen from Fall Branch, Tennessee. Sandra also joined the business as an accountant. Daughter Julia Alexandra was born in 1965, Alexander S. III in 1967, Lydia Mary in 1969, and John Stephen in 1971.

In 1971, Alexander was able to realize some of his architectural designing goals as the firm opened a new location on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast D.C.. In 1992, the business branched into the Maryland community when a new facility was built in Forestville, Maryland. In 1994, the Washington City Paper did an extensive article on the history of the Pope Funeral Homes.

Throughout the years, Alexander belonged to and supported many organizations. The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington, the National Funeral Directors Association, the Independent Funeral Director’s Association of Washington DC (chairman), the MD State Funeral Directors Association are just a few. He was a Cub Scout Den Leader for his son’s Cub Scout pack. He served as the President of the Columbia Beach Citizen’s Improvement Association, which served a small beach community in Shady Side, Maryland where his family would vacation at a house they owned there.

Alexander was a model railroading enthusiast. He began his passion for model railroading in the early ‘70s. Popenna Railroad, modeled after the Pennsylvania Railroad system from 1950-1967, was featured in the Washington Weekend section of the Washington Times in 1989. It was one of the largest layouts in the Washington area, welcoming at times hundreds of viewers during layout shows. He and his wife, Sandra, would travel the country by rail whenever they could. He also was an enthusiastic Washington Redskin fan and loved to play slot machines.

Alexander Pope Jr. led a very successful and rewarding life. He was always ready for new ventures. He used to say “Always keep your pants on” to be ready for when opportunity knocks. Wherever he would go, everyone knew who Mr. Pope, or “Alec”, was by the time he left. He could strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger and leave it like they were lifelong friends.

Beloved husband of the late Sandra Q. Pope; loving father of Julia Douglass of Germantown, MD, Alexander Pope III of Bowie, MD, Lydia Pope of San Diego, CA, and John Pope of Odenton, MD. Also survived by son-in-law, Ollen Douglass; daughters-in-law, Nate' Pope and Robyn Pope; four grandchildren, Ollen Douglass, Franklin Douglass, Vivian Douglass and Miranda Pope; cousins, Alice Jones, Rosalie Poole, Harold Reynolds, Janice Smith, Carmen Schell and Raymond Butler; the entire Pope staff and many other devoted relatives and friends.

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