2/27/05–St. Louis, MO–Portrait of Alexandra M. Usher.
Photo by Chris Usher

Alexandra MacNutt Usher married J. Richardson Usher June 11,1949; mother of David R. (Josee), Scott MacNutt (deceased), Christopher R. (Adrienne), and Susannah Usher Grasso; grandmother of Micah and Elliott (Samantha) Usher, Eric (Nicole) Norige and Joshua (Meillanny) Gladness, Melanie N. and Joseph Grasso III; sister of Francis MacNutt (Judith). She was the daughter of portrait painter J. Scott MacNutt and ballerina Agnes Cady MacNutt.

She attended Community School, John Burroughs School, and Wellesley College where she developed an interest in traditional folk music. She learned to play the guitar and built a repertoire of folk songs which led to a singing the National Anthem for the opening the original Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, MO, in 1966. She played the Carriage House and Laughing Buddha on Gaslight Square, and with her husband played in “The Folk Ensemble”, a group comprised of the best folksingers in St. Louis. She was a regular cast member on several Channel 9 children’s shows in the ‘50’s and organized several local folk festivals.

She taught herself to play solo autoharp in the ‘90’s, won the National Autoharp Championship in 1993, and the International Championship at Winfield, Kansas in 2004. This led to giving workshops and performances at a number of national festivals as well as the Ozark Folk Center, Mountain View, AR in 2008, and the St. Louis Scottish Games 2001- 2007.

Her autoharp recordings include a CD of Christmas music and another of Scottish airs. She authored four Mel Bay books; two are solo autoharp music. Children’s Song Favorites” and “Sidesplitters’ are folksong collections. She has been a regular contributor to the Autoharp Quarterly. She won best-of-show in 1999 at the Iowa State Fair for an afghan which she designed and knitted, and second place for an original baby afghan. Her other interests include writing and painting.

Alex worked closely with Nancy Reagan’s “Chemical People” program in 1979, she spear¬headed a drive to stop teenage drinking and drugging in Webster Groves by both raising awareness in the community and encouraging parents and schools to work together in combatting the problem.

She was on the original board of St. Louis Irish Arts and the Webster Groves Symphony, and designed several floats for the local July 4th memorial parade. With her family, she provided the music for the evening pre-fireworks show at Memorial Field for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration. She was an Oasis volunteer mentor and began a memoir-writing group at the Rockwood Apartments retirement center.

A memorial service and musical wake will be held at the First Congregational Church, 10 W Lockwood Ave, Webster Groves, MO 63119 at 1 PM on Saturday, July 27