Wilma Clarice Smith Albers, 87, passed away Jan. 30, 2015.
Hours before her birth on July 17, 1925, she traveled by ambulance to Louisville, Ky., the site of the hospital closest to her parents’ home in Mitchell Ind., and she continued her traveling ways all her life. By the time of her death, she had lived in 16 separate cities in 11 states and three countries, camped across a good stretch of the U.S. and Europe, and cruised on a dozen ships to an additional 38 nations.
Wilma’s father, P.J. Smith, was a family photographer. Her mother Dottie was a former teacher, homemaker and, into her 80s, bookstore clerk.
Dottie lived to see not only her grandchildren, but also her great-grandchildren, dying a week before her 100th birthday on Dec. 29, 1999. A dearly beloved older brother, Robert, died in Air Corps training during World War II. An older sister, Leah, died as an infant of “summer complaint.” Her brother Ernest survived with her into old age.
At 9, in the midst of the Great Depression, she moved with her family to Fargo, N.D. where she graduated from Fargo High, and went on to attend her father’s alma mater, Sioux Falls College in South Dakota. There she was a member of the debate team, played Eliza in “Pygmalion” and met Henry Albers, a young corporal in the U.S. Army Corps from Andover, Mass.
They first met at the local Baptist church. The service was being broadcast. She had a cough, and he had a cough drop.
Within a couple of years, his adviser at Harvard was having to dissuade Henry from transferring west. Instead, Wilma transferred to the University of Minnesota, where she received her B.A. and Henry his M.A. and both served on the staff. They were married at University Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minn. on St. Patrick’s Day 1950.
At the time, Wilma was teaching school in Kindred, N.D. Later jobs would range from chemical secretary to statistical clerk, junior scientist/writer to administrative assistant.
Along the way, she and Henry had three children, each born in a different state: Catherine, in Minneapolis; Christina, in Indianapolis; and Henry Peter, in Poughkeepsie, where Henry was professor of astronomy at Vassar College for more than 30 years.
After spending some years at home with children, she returned to work, teaching English for several years, earning her masters at SUNY-New Paltz with a thesis on Kurt Vonnegut, and serving a term as an elected member of the Arlington School Board.
In 1979, having handled at least a half-dozen family moves herself, she became a licensed real estate agent, matching homes and families.
Sabbaticals took the family to Ann Arbor, Mich. in 1966; Leiden, the Netherlands in 1971 and 1978; and Edinburgh, Scotland in 1979 and 1984.
In 1962 Henry’s work brought the family to Falmouth, Mass., a trip that turned into 20 years of summer residence, and in 1989, the two retired to Falmouth. There she helped establish the Friends of the Library and its Joy of Learning Program, worked with the League of Women Voters and became a town meeting member.
In 1998 she and her husband moved in with Hurricane Georges to Fairhope. There, she quickly became involved as a volunteer again with organizations, including the Eastern Shore Institute of Lifelong Learning, the Master Gardener program, Thomas Hospital and particularly the Unitarian Fellowship.
Widowed in 2009, she moved after a few years to be closer to family in New Orleans.
At every stay of her life, she sought out new experiences, and added to a store of friends she would keep in touch with through the years. Even in her final residence at Poydras Home, she made new and meaningful friendships, was a founding member of the book club and an enthusiastic and sharp participant in the crossword puzzle group.
She is survived by her three children, Catherine, now in Boston, Christina in New Orleans and Henry Peter in San Francisco; and two grandchildren, Sarah Anne and Henry Edward Kuczynski.
Memorial donations may be made to Heifer International (www.heifer.org).
There will be a private family service.
