Jeanette Alexander ’79 was at death's door. Returning to art, she found a miracle.

For Jeanette Alexander ’79 art nourishes the soul. “When I think about my life, I know my passion for painting serves as my salvation,” she says. “I put art on the backburner for 20 years. I know this void contributed to my illness.”

In 2001, doctors told Alexander she was at death’s door, her brain ravaged by cancerous tumors.

"This was my third bout with cancer. After months of suffering and near death by the treatments, I decided to take control—no more chemo and no more hospitals,” she says. “Whatever time I had left was going to be my own.”

In response, Alexander’s doctor recommended she start hospice care.

“About a month after stopping chemo, I started feeling stronger and returned to my studio,” she remembers. “I began a self-portrait. After painting awhile, I noticed the colors were bleak and somber. That’s when I decided I needed more color.”

Alexander likes to joke that she was “fired” by hospice a few months later because of what she and her doctor deem a miracle. “You can see my recovery in my art,” she says. “The pieces got more and more colorful as my healing took flight.” Alexander is now cancer-free.

Today, Alexander reflects on her life’s twists and turns and what led her back to her art.

She struggled as a single mother, raising four children, Michael, Mary Elizabeth, Amy and Jennifer. With trepidation, she enrolled in TCU’s art department, taking only one class her first semester. She found a welcoming spirit and hearty encouragement at the university, plunging into college with full semester loads and graduating summa cum laude.

She says she’s indebted to TCU and the art department for their support, as well as for the scholarships and various commissions that allowed her to simultaneously finish her degree and support her family.

When Alexander couldn’t find work as an art teacher after graduation, she sold dictation equipment to make ends meet.

Two years later, she entered the financial world at E.F. Hutton as a stockbroker. In the mid-1980s, Alexander pursued financial planning certification and eventually left the national brokerage companies to become an independent financial adviser.

In 1991, she forged a wealth management business serving retirees and soon-to-be retirees with her son, Michael. Together, they built their Fort Worth-based business, which continues today as Michael Dallas Wealth Management.

“For me, family and art have always been my motivation,” Alexander says. “Without them … who knows where I’d be. I’m blessed to be living my dream.”

On the Web:
To learn more about Alexander’s recovery, which was featured on the Veria Channel’s “The Art of Living,” visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEF2WAhl9tI or check out her site at http://www.jeanettealexander.com/.