Alexander Molis, known to all family members as Uncle Al, was an interesting man with a passion for education, travel, and mountain climbing in New Hampshire. Born in 1912??, he was the second of 7 children of Dominic and Antose Molis, who had immigrated from Lithuania in XXXX. The family settled in Providence, RI. His siblings included Nellie, the oldest, Dominic, Vito, the twins Annie and Millie, and the youngest, Ruthie, all are now deceased.
From stories told, at young age, Alexander was different than his siblings, in that he appeared to have a passion for learning. Vito told the story that Uncle Al had to beg his father to allow him to finish high school. After finishing high school, and in order to help his family, he went to work for the New Haven Railroad in Providence.
He served in World War II in the US Army, although not much information is available from his time in the service. During the war, his father passed away. When he was discharged, he returned to work for the railroad, and helped to support the family. He got married in XXXX and they had one child, Christopher Molis in 1946, who is now one of the Trustees. Unfortunately, Uncle Al and his wife became estranged several years after Chris was born.
His yearning for education eventually prevailed and he decided to pursue a college education. He moved to Boston, continued to work for the railroad, and enrolled at Boston University, eventually earning a BA in economics.
Upon graduation, and now in his forties, he moved to Washington D.C. and began working for the United States Government. He held a number of different positions including his final position in a Spanish-American bank. During that time, he met and married Doris Wondell, who also held a position with the bank.
In XXXX, both he and Doris decided to retire, as both had invested wisely during their careers. Doris purchased her family’s farm in Cape Giradeau, Missouri, and they moved there shortly thereafter. Doris’s family had been in the farming business for many years, and each of her siblings were in the farming business.
The property consisted of a rambling farmhouse and a significant plot of farmland. The farm house was built in the 1800’s, had stately white columns in the front, several additions, and an old barn. When they moved to the farm, they hired sharecroppers to farm the land, a practice that was quite common in those days. The sharecropper took all responsibility to farm the land and sell the product, and then paid Doris a percentage of the profits.
They settled into this life and lived there the rest of their lives. Doris, who was born and raised on the farm, was very content in that lifestyle. She ran the farm business while Uncle Al piddled around the property doing all sorts of tasks. Vito, who visited Uncle Al several times over the years, always joked about Uncle Al being a farmer who who didn’t know a screwdriver from a wrench. During those visits, Vito would help to repair whatever needed to be fixed.
Mostly, however, Uncle Al, tended to his investments, regularly reading the Wall Street Journal. He was a classic “Buy & Hold” investor, very seldom selling his investments, and accumulated considerable wealth over the years. In fact, when he passed, he still owned shares in the very first stock that he bought in the early 1950’s! Despite being quite wealthy, and having lived through the great depression in 1929, he never lost his frugal habits. For years, they travelled around in a small compact car, including a number of trips back to RI. He finally bought a small Mercedes in the 1983 and kept that until he died. The only thing that he spent money on was that car and travel. One other thing that he did was his wealth was to help his siblings and their children, particularly when it came to education. He was always there encouraging the children to go the college.
They travelled extensively during their retirement years, visiting many different countries. They also became avid square dancers, traveling to various competitions in the US.
Early in his life, he and his brothers, started camping and hiking in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Of course, in true Molis fashion, they did this with the barest of equipment. Hiking in the mountains became his passion and he introduced this activity to virtually everyone in the family. Once he retired, he made an annual trip to the mountains, always camping at Dollycopp Campground, in the heart of the Presidential Range. He would stay up there for about 6 weeks, climbing the peaks regularly. These were usually up and back day hikes, where you’d leave early in the morning and come back late in the afternoon. Various family members would do the same back then, spending a week or so on vacations camping at Dollycopp and hiking with Uncle Al. His passion was transferred to many family members, who continue to visit and hike the White Mountains today.