Olive M. Alexander, a homemaker and hospital volunteer, died of heart failure Sunday at White Oak Manor Nursing Home in Kings Mountain, N.C. The former Hampden resident was 100.

Mrs. Alexander worked briefly in the cafeteria at the Johns Hopkins University, and had been a longtime volunteer at Union Memorial Hospital. Much of her time was devoted to crocheting, said her son, Alex Alexander of Kings Mountain.

"She loved to crochet [blankets] and she would turn around and give them to the residents of hospitals and nursing homes for comfort," her son said.

Born Olive Margaret Dunnigan in Baltimore and raised in Hampden with her 10 brothers and sisters, she left elementary school to work in textile mills to help support her family.

She married Diseff Alexander in 1935 in New York, where they lived until his death in 1958. She then returned to Baltimore to care for her mother, Dora Dunnigan. In April, she moved to the nursing home, which is managed by her son and his wife.

A memorial service was held there Monday. Mrs. Alexander will be buried in Lorraine Park Cemetery in Baltimore.

She also is survived by three brothers, Walter Dunnigan, James Dunnigan and Charles Dunnigan, all of Baltimore; two sisters, Dora Pimental of Glyndon and Dorothy Dumhart of Manchester; one grandson; and six great-grandchildren.