Brinyite Terry Kline fondly recalls the “summer of giving,” with her neighbor, Celene “Candy” Alexandra. “I gave her some tomatoes one day, and the next day she shows up at my door with peaches and pears. As soon as you give her one thing, you get back 900 things. We spent the summer trying to one-up each other with giving.”
Giving is something that Alexandra has done for many years with many, many children. Nearly three decades ago, Alexandra began soothing troublesome children with a music therapy program she developed and incorporated in public schools across Palm Beach County.
With her trademark songs, You are so Beautiful to Me and Sweetness in the Morning, Alexandra — known to the kids as “Dr. A.” — whisked these children to a quiet, serene place “under the waterfall” and helped them to focus and calm down.
“You change their thoughts, you change their behavior. It works on everybody,” said Alexandra, 63. While she has no children of her own, every week Alexandra would work with 300 children at 16 schools across the county.
“I had five classes of autistic children in middle school. When the class was done, some of the children applauded,” Alexander said.
Kline substitute teaches on occasion and recalled the day Alexandra walked into her classroom. “When she came in, the kids were wild and wooly. And when she left, they were so calm. It is an amazing program.” Unfortunately, budget problems prompted school district officials to cancel the program this summer and Alexandra now works as a pre-K facilitator, a task she says doesn’t take full advantage of her musical skills. Alexandra earned a master’s degree in music education from the University of Colorado, a master’s degree in music therapy from Florida State University, and an Ed. D. in early childhood education from Nova University and hopes the district will reconsider its decision.
She keeps a scrapbook of fonder days with her school children. “Thank you. I needed you,” wrote one child. “You make my every Thursday happy,” wrote another.
Alexandra first came to Briny Breezes in the early 1950s with her parents and lives there today, caring for her mother.
As a child, “I begged my mom to take piano lessons,” Alexandra said. “I’d practice for three hours every day and the time would just fly by.”
Her personal favorites: Bach. The Beatles. Irving Berlin. Easy listening of the 1930s and 1940s.
She enjoys living in Briny Breezes, where she says her late father and mother were quite active until their later years. “I have such wonderful neighbors,” she said.
Kline shares Alexandra’s remorse about the end of the music therapy program. “It’s just a shame,” she says. “She invented that program. It’s sad when bad things happen to good people.”
Still, music will forever play a big part in Alexandra’s life. “I have always had music in my house and in my heart,” she said.
Celene A. “Candy” Alexendra was nominated to be a Coastal Star by her Briny Breezes neighbor, Terry Kline.
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Terry, Robert, & Madison (woof!)