Alfred B. Alberts

Alfred B. Alberts, aka, Al, Alito, dad, papa, and Alfredo from Loredo, began his life in Huntington, West Virginia on April 5, 1934. He was the eldest son of Walter and Zina Alberts and had one brother, James, and two sisters, Barbara and Janice. To his family and friends Al was known as Junior. His father, Walter, worked on the railroad while grandma Zina did her best to love and care for her family. When the railroad made cutbacks and his father lost his job the state took Al and his three younger siblings from the family and placed them in a state run orphanage. When his parents were finally in the position to bring their four children home Al had to stay at the orphanage because it was believed that he had contracted Tuberculosis. Eventually he returned to his family. Always a hard worker, Al worked on local farms as soon as he could handle an ox and plow. As a skinny little 10 year old boy he was already plowing the fields of his grandmother and the surrounding neighbors who paid him a mere 10 cents per day for his work.

His sense of love and responsibility were strong characteristics of Al throughout his life. He joined the US Marine Corps at the age of 19 and from his very first paycheck he bought coal and wood for his parents home and ensured that they always had what they needed. He continued this act of love throughout their lives, even paying the monthly rent on the home they lived in until the end of their lives.

While stationed at the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, Al met a beautiful young Colombian lady by the name of Martha Elena Rodriguez. It didn’t take him long to realize that Martha was like no other woman he had ever met. This was certainly an odd couple, as Al was a hillbilly from the mountains of West Virginia and Martha was the daughter of a Colombian diplomat. Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before they fell in love and were engaged to be married. Because the Marine Corps had a standing order that no Marine could marry until they had been in country two years, Al and Martha were married two years to the day of Al’s arrival in Bogota.  Surprisingly, it was the tough man who got cold feet and called off the wedding only weeks before the date, but it didn’t take him long to realize his mistake and come running back to Martha. They were married on July 21, 1962 and his lovely bride stood by his side through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for better or worst, till death they did part. Their 50 years of marriage was blessed with four children, Karen, Christine, Gina, and Brian, eleven grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren who surrounded him with love to his very last breath. In addition, Al brought his mother in-law, Lucila Escobar Rodriguez, to live with him and Martha early on in their married life. Lucilita, as Al called her, lived with them for 27 years.

Al served his country as a US Marine for 22 years, 6 months, 5 days; serving in Vietnam for two tours for a total of 28 months. He began his career as a Marine Corps Private and retired holding the rank of Captain. After retiring from the US Marine Corps Al began work with North County Transit District where he worked for more 20 years. He always provided for his family, even selling encyclopedias and men’s shoes door to door in the evening to supplement his income. In his spare time he could always be found working around the house, smoking his pipe and reading his newspaper in the garage.

Al was a man of honor and integrity. He was known to say, “if you borrow a quarter from a man you walk five miles to return that quarter.” As frugal as Al was he loved to play the Lottery. He would always smile and say, “I can feel it, one day I’m going to win.”

In the last seven years of his life Al battled pharynx cancer and COPD. Because the cancer treatments affected his balance he had a number of falls that resulted in two broken hips, a broken shoulder, and too many broken ribs to count. What sustained him through his sufferings was his loving family. When he had to spend six weeks in a nursing home not a day passed that his wife, Martha, his children and grandchildren were not at his bedside. In the end Al passed on into eternal life with all those he love be his side. Joined in prayer he was committed into the loving mercy of our God and his family rests in the hope that we will see him again in paradise. Al leaves behind a wife, children, son in-laws, grandchildren and great grandchildren who are better people because he was born; his life made an indelible mark in our lives and on the world.