Robbie Joe (Hunt) Alexander

Robbie Joe Hunt Alexander age 91, of Anderson, SC, peacefully slipped away Thursday, June 9, 2022, at An Med Health Medical Center.

She was born July 3, 1930 in Elbert County, Georgia to the late Waddell and Louise Mattox Hunt. Growing up she was educated in the Hart County School system and lived a relatively modest life until she was forced out of school only after completing the eighth grade to take care of her siblings when her mother became sick with cancer.  Determined not to be a victim of circumstance, Robbie took care of her mother until her passing and she also stepped up and took care of her younger siblings. This level of responsibility would prevent her from going back to school to finish her education; she decided to put family over education and never second guessed her decision.

Robbie’s strong will and determination to succeed made life difficult for her and her family in the old Jim Crow South and the family eventually moved to Cincinnati, Ohio; the place where she found her true calling. After spending her tender years taking care of family and working as a private caretaker for Dr. John Moore as an orderly for Longview Hospital for the Mentally Ill in Cincinnati, Ohio, she turned her home into a makeshift assisted living facility. The caretaking that was so prevalent in her childhood was just the spark that led to her lifelong passion of caring for the elderly and mentally ill. While her business flourished in Cincinnati, Ohio, her heart never left her place of her upbringing. Eventually, her heart won and during the summer of 1979 she moved the family and the business back south, settling in Anderson, South Carolina. Robbie, along with her husband Horace Alexander, Sr., established Alexander’s Residential Home in November of 1979. Throughout the years, she opened several Boarding homes throughout Anderson and Greenville Counties. Her business acumen and community involvement overshadowed her limited amount of education; making her one of the more respected business women in Anderson County.

Robbie enjoyed the outdoors; spending the better part of her life gardening, landscaping, canning and freezing her vegetables and traveling. She also enjoyed feeding the neighborhood, taking care of her precious dogs and watching television. Dogs were like children to her and there was always one by her side until the day her health would no longer let her care for them.

Robbie was preceded in death by her parents Waddell Hunt, Sr. and Louise Mattox Hunts; sons, Kevin Gaines and Larry D. Gaines; daughters, Diane Gaines and Barbara Gaines; great grandson, Cadence Alexander; brothers, Willie “Cuda” Mattox, Austin Mattox, John W. Hunt and Roosevelt Hunt; sisters, Vernell Chandler, Elizabeth Cuttner and Darlene Schimdt Jackson.

A viewing will be held from 1-7 pm on Thursday, June 16, 2022, at D.B. Walker Funeral Services and funeral services will be at 1:00 pm Friday in the Chapel of D.B. Walker Funeral Services.

Robbie leaves to cherish fond memories, her sons, Kenny Mattox of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Eugene Gaines of Cincinnati, Ohio, Horace Alexander, Jr. of Anderson, South Carolina and Willie Moore, Jr. of Anderson, South Carolina; daughters, Bobbie J. “BJ” Gaines, Phyllis E. Gaines and Olethia L. “Penny” Fleming Gaines; son-in-law, Paul Fleming of Greenville, South Carolina; Erick Bradshaw, Sr. and Johnny Robinson, whom she considered sons; brother, Waddell Hunt, Jr.; sisters, Zadie Hunt and Thomasine Johnson; sisters-in-law, Mary Hunt of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Diane Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio; special niece, Precious Smith of Washington, DC; Yvonne Rucker Bell, whom she considered a granddaughter; seventeen grandchildren; twenty-six great grandchildren and one great grandchild on the way; along with a host of other relatives, loved and friends.

The family is at the home of her son, Horace Alexander, Jr., 117 George B. Timmerman Drive, Anderson, SC

D.B. Walker Funeral Services 311 Cleveland Ave. Anderson, SC, 29624, www.dbwalkerfuneralservices.com.  (864) 226-4354

Announcement courtesy of Mack’s Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Hartwell Chapel, www.macksfuneralhome.com.   (706) 376- 7566 or (706) 283-4566

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