Albert, Alma Morris

Alma Morris Albert, 70, of Christiansburg passed away peacefully on Good Friday, April 6, in Dublin, Virginia, of complications arising from Alzheimer’s disease.

She was born on August 13, 1936, near the Long Shop community of Montgomery County, the daughter of John Crist and Clara Elizabeth Keister Morris, the first child in a family that ultimately would include eight children. She joined the administrative staff at Virginia Tech not long after graduating from Blacksburg High School at the age of 16. In 1954, she married Horace Wendell Albert of McCoy, a veteran of World War II and the Korean Conflict who predeceased her in 1973.

A tireless community, school and church volunteer, Alma brought her boundless energy, bright smile and hearty laugh to activities from the Cub Scouts, to the American Cancer Society, to singing in the choir and teaching Sunday school to youngsters at the Christiansburg Church of the Brethren. She was a lifelong lover of gardening, wildlife and the great outdoors, an avid traveler whose cup was always half full.

After being widowed at the age of 37, she began a career at Federal-Mogul Corporation in Blacksburg that spanned the better part of three decades. She and her longtime companion, William H. “Bill” Lester, were regular supporters of community events from the D. B. Jurison and Cheryl Quigley Memorial Runs, to New River Trail Days.

Alma is survived by her sons, Alan Dale Albert of Virginia Beach and Larry Wendell Albert of Sterling; daughters-in-law Charlotte Lynne Anders and Susan Johnson Albert; her companion, Bill Lester; four grandchildren, Joshua Alan Albert and Jacob William Albert of Sterling, and Alexander Dylan Albert and Caroline Elizabeth Albert of Virginia Beach; and seven brothers and sisters, Mildred M. Walden, Shirley M. Bryant, John W. Morris, Edward L. Morris, Julian C. Morris and Dale Morris of Richmond, and Darlene M. Hutchinson of Roanoke.

The family will receive visitors at the Horne Funeral Home in Christiansburg from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10. Funeral services will be held at the Christiansburg Church of the Brethren at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 11, with interment to follow at the Sunset Cemetery.

To honor the spirit of Alma’s generosity and devotion to community, the family requests in lieu of flowers that friends consider making a contribution to the Western and Central Virginia Chapter of the Alzheimers Association, or to the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.