MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Former Tennessee first lady Leslee Kathryn Buhler "Honey" Alexander died Saturday at her Maryville home with her family present.
A statement provided by the Alexander family says the 77-year-old wife of former Tennessee Governor and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander "passed away peacefully surrounded by her family."
Alexander is described by her family as a woman who was "funny, loving, always caring, unselfish and courageous."
Leslee received the nickname "Honey" from her older brother when she was just a baby, born on Oct. 12, 1945, in Los Angeles, California. She is the second of five children born to Frank and Bette Jo Simpson Buhler.
Her family moved to Victoria, Texas when she was two years old. She would grow up to graduate from Smith College in 1967 with a major in American Studies. She then joined the Washington, D.C. staff of Texas U.S. Senator John G. Tower.
She met her future husband, Lamar Alexander, during a summer softball match between the Tower staff and the staff of Tennessee Senator Howard Baker, Jr., for whom Lamar worked as a staffer. They were married 18 months later while living in D.C. Lamar worked at the White House for President Richard M. Nixon at the time.
Honey moved to Nashville in August 1970 with her husband and 11-month-old son, Drew. Her passion for children's health and well-being became extremely defined in this time.
"Strong families make strong children," she said in 2017.
She led the statewide Healthy Children Initiative while serving as Tennessee's First Lady from 1979 to 1987, and served as a member of the 1985-1986 Southern Regional Task Force on Infant Mortality, the Governor’s Task Forces on Day Care and on Youth Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and the U.S. Health Secretary’s Council on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
“It is not what I have given over the years but what I’ve gained from working with such inspirational people," she said in 2019, of her many accomplishments.
In addition to her long list of experiences working with children and family causes, she was a co-founder of two businesses and an effective advocate for her husband's campaign efforts, including a 1994-1996 campaign for U.S. presidency.
In a statement released by her family, she is remembered as intensely loving and professional.
"In each of these roles, she always was smiling and thinking first of others. She was proper without pretense, demonstrating an unerring sense of what was appropriate whether it was as hostess for a state dinner for auto executives, or a Bonne Belle Run for women, or for the National Governors Association meeting in Nashville," the Alexander family wrote.
Honey is survived by her husband of 53 years, three children, nine grandchildren, two brothers and two sisters. Her first son, Drew, died on December 31, 2021.
There will be a private graveside service for family members at the family cemetery in Walland, TN. Honey’s brother-in-law will officiate. A memorial service will be held later at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Honey Alexander Center, 2400 Clifton Avenue, Nashville 37209.
