M. Alexandra Earls arrived February 22nd 1930 in Scarsdale New York as the second daughter of Dorothy and William Franklin Earls. She was born and lived as Marilyn Earls until later in life when she legally changed her name to M. Alexandra Earls, she never settled for the status quo and was constantly evolving as a person with every choice reflecting her introspective journey. In those days her father William was a successful account manager at NBC radio in Rockefeller Center and so life in the early 1930’s included exciting times in Manhattan with bucolic summers in the Connecticut countryside near her Mother’s family ancestral town of Haddam Connecticut. The Old Rock Landing Cemetery was laid out in 1717 and is the resting place of Haddam Neck’s earliest settlers including the Arnolds, Brainerd’s, Clarks and Brooke’s and that is what brings us here today so Alex can rest next to her Mother and Father in the Arnold family plot.
Their Conn. house was formerly an old button mill in Higganum Conn. Set on a creek. It was outfited with an outhouse and wood burning stove and thus began Alex’s love of the simple life without creature comforts and making do with less. Regardless of resources she always maintained with an uncanny sense of style able to put a uncommon and accomplished look together with common items. She used to say Elizabeth Taylor’s favorite shade of red lipstick came from the dime store so it’s really about the choices one makes not how much they spend on it.
During WWII Alex lived in Washington D.C. when both her parents worked with government in helping plan the Allied war effort. The Earls family lived in Georgetown and Alexandria Va. Alex attended the George Washington University as a Journalism major and attended classes with Jacqueline Bouvier whom she reconnected with in later years. She was an active member there of the George Washington University Players and kept her love of theater alive throughout her life as a volunteer for various theater and opera companies in Los Angeles and Massachusetts. After college she worked for NBC in New York and while there met her future husband, Air Force Lieutenant Malcolm McMullen while he was at West Point Military Academy. They were married at the Church of St. Peter in Eaton Square London on May 30th 1952. After a wedding trip to London and Paris they settled in Laon France where Malcolm was stationed at the Air base near Bordeaux. This began a lifelong love of France for Alex, she later became a resident of Paris, Laon and other communities in France for extended periods of time during her life. This time it was a very frugal and hardscrabble life in post war France but she loved it and always carried the experience of living with less with her in life.
Malcolm and Marilyn ( Alexandra ) then returned to the States in 1954 for the birth of their first child, a son, Malcolm Cabot McMullen in Hampton Virginia. When Malcolm was assigned to Ann Arbor Michigan for a Masters degree in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan they had their second son John Earls McMullen born in 1959. Ann Arbor was a vibrant scene for the arts in the late fifties and Alex became quite involved while socializing and working with some of the most innovative architects and artists of her generation during their early stages of development there. She exponentially expanded her horizons as an artist during this time.
Since the 1920’s Malcolm’s family maintained a summer residence in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod and so the young family would spent time there whenever possible, out on the water, in the orchard and gardens created by Malcolm’s Mother Isabelle Cabot. This began Alex’s love of horticulture. The Cape is a place where Alex would raide the boys summers and return during the off season on her own for peace and solitude.
In the meantime the Air Force transferred Malcolm to California to join the infant space program as an engineer where he literally became one of the right stuff. Alex took care of the home and boys while volunteering with the LA Opera and other arts organizations and loved the life they had first in Palos Verdes and then Manhattan Beach. Alex was a romantic, not drawn to technology but to cultural and spiritual pursuits involving the essence of civilizations and their history. In many ways she was out of sync with the time she was born into. A life in the Space program put pressures on the marriage that it could not withstand and the McMullen’s split in 1968 after moving back to the East Coast.
Malcolm remarried and started a new family but Alex decided to strike out on her own, she moved to Boston and got work in advertsing, then naval architecture then struck out on the adventure that would make her the completely independent woman she would become when that was not something to be admired in a woman. At the risk of alienating her family she took it upon herself to take a leave of absence and pursue the disciplines she was intensely interested in. She had become disenchanted with the direction the United States had taken during the Nixon years and so she pulled the ripcord and returned to Europe on her own. Alex had the looks that could easily open doors on their own but she choose to have her intelligence and hard work ethic make the first impression. First living in France and then making her way to the French West Indies in the early 1970’s where she would reside for the next 40 years.
She loved the warm breezes of the trade winds and intense European Carribe history of the islands with all it’s cultural stew. She met her second husband William Mitchell here and for many years they operated a day sailing business on a 60’ Herreshoff catch and did important restoration work on historic properties on Antigua, St. Barths, St Martin, and Bequia. She physically worked hard, building things, with her hands and created value where there was none. With Bill’s help she built herself a cottage with kerosene lamp lighting and few conveniences but it was the life she had always dreamed of. A place of her own. Alex became close to native residents of the Carribean and was bestowed the honorary title of “a belonger”. She became one of the people there to the point where she sometimes could ruffle the feathers of those in positions of power with authority and so she often found herself in moral conflicts fighting for what she thought was right for others and for herself.
After husband Bill passed away Alex returned to Europe and to horticulture by getting involved in promoting little known French Vineyards to an American audience. She also continued her preservation work that she knew was so important by helping lead an effort to secure and restore World War I shelter structures containing important artifacts made by the hands of the Allied troops sequestered in caves for protection as they fought there. It was as if she was hoping to keep the era she most identified with from being erased by time’s inevitable march forward. She has been recognized for these efforts. After this European period in the early 1990’s Alex returned to the Caribbean for one last stretch which ended with hurricane Maria in 2017.
This really just scratches the surface but what emerges is a strong, independent woman who traveled upstream against the current of her day doing what she thought was important, for herself and for others. She was very proud of her ancestry, roots in New England and origins in Eastern Europe and made a great effort uncovering lost details of the family tree during travels research trips through Europe.
Throughout all of this she had an unwavering faith in God and was very connected to Jesus and the new Testament which she always had with her. She prayed for others and as well as for herself. It provided her a daily affirmation. From her faith the one theme that emerged throughout her life can be summed up in one word:
FAIRNESS
Alex always stood first for equity and fairness in all areas of life. She stood up for those who could not stand up for themselves and ended up living a life with more conflict than she deserved due to her principals as she never stood down when standing up was the right thing to do.
After the intense Category 5 hurricane Maria of 2017 Alex lost her home on St. Martin and came back to the States to recover and start a new chapter in California at the invitation of her son Cabot and his wife Lisa in Los Angeles. It was here that she was later diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer and after treatment in Los Angeles and New York City and a good fight she passed away at age 88 on November 8th 2018 at the Mary Manning Walsh Hospice in Yorkville New York City. She is survived by her Sister Susanne Earls Carr, her niece Constance Carr and her two sons Cabot McMullen and John McMullen. Her last wishes included the request to be buried at the Old Rock Landing Cemetery next to her parents in Haddam Neck Conn.
“ FAREWELL, BE VIGILANT, BE BOLD – TRUE TO YOUR GOD, YOUR COUNTRY, AND YOUR QUEEN”
Farewell address to a young sailor
Their Conn. house was formerly an old button mill in Higganum Conn. Set on a creek. It was outfited with an outhouse and wood burning stove and thus began Alex’s love of the simple life without creature comforts and making do with less. Regardless of resources she always maintained with an uncanny sense of style able to put a uncommon and accomplished look together with common items. She used to say Elizabeth Taylor’s favorite shade of red lipstick came from the dime store so it’s really about the choices one makes not how much they spend on it.
During WWII Alex lived in Washington D.C. when both her parents worked with government in helping plan the Allied war effort. The Earls family lived in Georgetown and Alexandria Va. Alex attended the George Washington University as a Journalism major and attended classes with Jacqueline Bouvier whom she reconnected with in later years. She was an active member there of the George Washington University Players and kept her love of theater alive throughout her life as a volunteer for various theater and opera companies in Los Angeles and Massachusetts. After college she worked for NBC in New York and while there met her future husband, Air Force Lieutenant Malcolm McMullen while he was at West Point Military Academy. They were married at the Church of St. Peter in Eaton Square London on May 30th 1952. After a wedding trip to London and Paris they settled in Laon France where Malcolm was stationed at the Air base near Bordeaux. This began a lifelong love of France for Alex, she later became a resident of Paris, Laon and other communities in France for extended periods of time during her life. This time it was a very frugal and hardscrabble life in post war France but she loved it and always carried the experience of living with less with her in life.
Malcolm and Marilyn ( Alexandra ) then returned to the States in 1954 for the birth of their first child, a son, Malcolm Cabot McMullen in Hampton Virginia. When Malcolm was assigned to Ann Arbor Michigan for a Masters degree in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan they had their second son John Earls McMullen born in 1959. Ann Arbor was a vibrant scene for the arts in the late fifties and Alex became quite involved while socializing and working with some of the most innovative architects and artists of her generation during their early stages of development there. She exponentially expanded her horizons as an artist during this time.
Since the 1920’s Malcolm’s family maintained a summer residence in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod and so the young family would spent time there whenever possible, out on the water, in the orchard and gardens created by Malcolm’s Mother Isabelle Cabot. This began Alex’s love of horticulture. The Cape is a place where Alex would raide the boys summers and return during the off season on her own for peace and solitude.
In the meantime the Air Force transferred Malcolm to California to join the infant space program as an engineer where he literally became one of the right stuff. Alex took care of the home and boys while volunteering with the LA Opera and other arts organizations and loved the life they had first in Palos Verdes and then Manhattan Beach. Alex was a romantic, not drawn to technology but to cultural and spiritual pursuits involving the essence of civilizations and their history. In many ways she was out of sync with the time she was born into. A life in the Space program put pressures on the marriage that it could not withstand and the McMullen’s split in 1968 after moving back to the East Coast.
Malcolm remarried and started a new family but Alex decided to strike out on her own, she moved to Boston and got work in advertsing, then naval architecture then struck out on the adventure that would make her the completely independent woman she would become when that was not something to be admired in a woman. At the risk of alienating her family she took it upon herself to take a leave of absence and pursue the disciplines she was intensely interested in. She had become disenchanted with the direction the United States had taken during the Nixon years and so she pulled the ripcord and returned to Europe on her own. Alex had the looks that could easily open doors on their own but she choose to have her intelligence and hard work ethic make the first impression. First living in France and then making her way to the French West Indies in the early 1970’s where she would reside for the next 40 years.
She loved the warm breezes of the trade winds and intense European Carribe history of the islands with all it’s cultural stew. She met her second husband William Mitchell here and for many years they operated a day sailing business on a 60’ Herreshoff catch and did important restoration work on historic properties on Antigua, St. Barths, St Martin, and Bequia. She physically worked hard, building things, with her hands and created value where there was none. With Bill’s help she built herself a cottage with kerosene lamp lighting and few conveniences but it was the life she had always dreamed of. A place of her own. Alex became close to native residents of the Carribean and was bestowed the honorary title of “a belonger”. She became one of the people there to the point where she sometimes could ruffle the feathers of those in positions of power with authority and so she often found herself in moral conflicts fighting for what she thought was right for others and for herself.
After husband Bill passed away Alex returned to Europe and to horticulture by getting involved in promoting little known French Vineyards to an American audience. She also continued her preservation work that she knew was so important by helping lead an effort to secure and restore World War I shelter structures containing important artifacts made by the hands of the Allied troops sequestered in caves for protection as they fought there. It was as if she was hoping to keep the era she most identified with from being erased by time’s inevitable march forward. She has been recognized for these efforts. After this European period in the early 1990’s Alex returned to the Caribbean for one last stretch which ended with hurricane Maria in 2017.
This really just scratches the surface but what emerges is a strong, independent woman who traveled upstream against the current of her day doing what she thought was important, for herself and for others. She was very proud of her ancestry, roots in New England and origins in Eastern Europe and made a great effort uncovering lost details of the family tree during travels research trips through Europe.
Throughout all of this she had an unwavering faith in God and was very connected to Jesus and the new Testament which she always had with her. She prayed for others and as well as for herself. It provided her a daily affirmation. From her faith the one theme that emerged throughout her life can be summed up in one word:
FAIRNESS
Alex always stood first for equity and fairness in all areas of life. She stood up for those who could not stand up for themselves and ended up living a life with more conflict than she deserved due to her principals as she never stood down when standing up was the right thing to do.
After the intense Category 5 hurricane Maria of 2017 Alex lost her home on St. Martin and came back to the States to recover and start a new chapter in California at the invitation of her son Cabot and his wife Lisa in Los Angeles. It was here that she was later diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer and after treatment in Los Angeles and New York City and a good fight she passed away at age 88 on November 8th 2018 at the Mary Manning Walsh Hospice in Yorkville New York City. She is survived by her Sister Susanne Earls Carr, her niece Constance Carr and her two sons Cabot McMullen and John McMullen. Her last wishes included the request to be buried at the Old Rock Landing Cemetery next to her parents in Haddam Neck Conn.
“ FAREWELL, BE VIGILANT, BE BOLD – TRUE TO YOUR GOD, YOUR COUNTRY, AND YOUR QUEEN”
Farewell address to a young sailor