|
April 2008 Issue
Back
to Feature Articles
Baby Boomers' faith
withstood test of turbulent era
| 
|
Les
Albert was in history class at Belding High School when
he learned President John F. Kennedy had been killed.
It was a Friday and he'd planned to go to a classmate's
party that night. When he came home, however, "there
wasn't a question at all. We weren't going any place
that night," recalls Albert, who was 16 when Kennedy
was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. |
Once the chores around their family farm were
finished, the Alberts gathered to pray the rosary, a devotion
the family always turned to in a crisis. "I remember kneeling
in the living room and we had the TV on," recalls Albert.
"There was no sound on but if something came on about the
assassination we'd stop and listen to that and then we'd get
back to the Rosary." For Les, now 60, and wife Barb, 57, faith
would remain a constant in the turbulent years that followed.
Part of the Baby Boom generation, the Alberts' most vivid
memories are of the death of JFK followed by the assassinations
of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. They
also witnessed race riots and antiwar protests, the Vietnam
War, Watergate and the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
They came of age at a time of social change brought about
by the civil rights' and women's movements.
The Catholic Church saw reform as well, ushered
in with the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). Yet, even as
these changes swept the nation and some became disillusioned,
the Alberts remained steadfast in their Catholic faith. For
Les, the faith instilled in him as a young man "got me through
tough times. You didn't want to (abandon) what got you through
these things." Barb's faith story is similar, even though
she grew up in Kentwood and Les in a rural community. "I always
was taught that when you have bad times whether they're in
your immediate family or in your town or in your church community
or in your state or nation … that's when Jesus is the closest
to you," she says.
"He's right there with you crying and mourning.
Instead of turning away we always went to church." Today the
two live in a country home they built together in rural Miriam,
not far from the farm where Les grew up. Theirs is a quiet
life, especially compared to the turbulent times in which
they came of age; yet, then and now, their faith has remained
central to their lives as they have raised their children
and served others as a teacher and a nurse.
The teacher meets a nurse
Les grew up on a farm near St. Mary's Church
in Miriam in the Belding area. After high school, he worked
at Rapistan and attended night school at Grand Rapids Junior
College (GRJC, now Grand Rapids Community College), earning
an associate's degree in mechanical technology. In 1969 Les
transferred to Central Michigan University, where he earned
an industrial education degree. Les decided in 1971 to try
teaching for a year. He retired from full-time teaching 36
years later and continues to teach part-time at Montcalm Community
College. Barb grew up in Kentwood and always wanted to be
a nurse. After graduating from Kentwood High School, Barb
went onto to Grand Rapids Junior College where she earned
her LPN. She began working at Blodgett Hospital in 1976 and
continued at GRJC to earn her RN. Barb has worked as a surgical
nurse at Blodgett since 1978, where she continues to cover
two eight-hour shifts per week. It was on one of those shifts
when Barb met the man who would become her husband, though
she wouldn't have said so then. Plagued by stomach ulcers,
Les had surgery at Blodgett in summer 1975. That's where he
met Barb, the young nurse who happened to be working on his
floor that week. Les made a note of her last name on her badge
and kept asking Barb for her father's name so he could look
her up. But Barb would not give it to him. At a subsequent
hospital visit the priest who visited Les happened to serve
at Barb's home parish. He mentioned her father's name in passing.
That was all it took for Les, who called her at home. "He
said `I am the patient in 219, Bed 1' and asked me to dinner
and a movie.'" Barb said yes, almost on a whim. "He came to
pick me up - that was April 10, 1976. I never dated anyone
else." The two had not yet met when many of the pivotal events
of the 1960s and 1970s came about, yet both share a deep faith
that carried them through that era.
The assassinations
Both Les and Barb grew up with strong sense
of Catholic faith. Les has Irish Catholic roots. "You'd never
think of missing Mass," he recalled. He remembers his father
would fast from midnight until Mass on Sunday, even though
he rose at 5 a.m. to milk the cows and do other chores. Barb,
who grew up in a Polish Catholic family, has similar memories
of attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, and abstaining
from meat on Fridays. Their faith would come into play again
and again as changes swept through society. For both, the
assassinations were the most difficult memories. Barb was
in sixth grade when she was called in from recess to learn
that President Kennedy had been killed. She remembers saying
a prayer during a moment of silence. Les was planning to vote
for the first time - for Bobby Kennedy - in 1968 when the
younger Kennedy was assassinated. He'd seen the presidential
candidate speak in Grand Rapids shortly before Kennedy was
killed. "I was so in hopes that he'd get the nomination,"
recalled Les. "I had high hopes for him." Les was "disappointed,"
but did not become bitter. Just as his family had when John
F. Kennedy was killed, Les turned to his faith. He'd always
been taught that even though the Blessed Mother hears prayers.
She does not always answer in the way we would hope. "You
were saddened by (the assassinations) but it was just part
of God's plan," he added. Barb also kept the faith when these
national tragedies occurred. "They were two separate things
- the politics that were going on and my own personal faith,"
she recalled.
Faith 'kept you on the right track'
As a young man, Les got caught up in drinking,
not uncommon in the 1960s and 1970s. But his faith helped
him get back on track. "It was ruining my health," he recalled,
and so he simply stopped. "I wouldn't have my wife, my family
if I had continued drinking." Les's friend and college roommate
Tim Morris, who lives in Belding and attends St. Patrick Church
in Parnell, remembers those years. "He's never wavered as
far as his faith goes," said Morris of Les. "The 1970s were
a pretty turbulent time. I think faith and family is what
kind of kept you on the right track." Many of the reforms
of the 1960s and 1970s were positive, the Alberts agree. Les
Albert credits student protests with helping end the Vietnam
War. The push for civil rights and women's rights were other
for being in that era," she said. "I felt there was a future
for women …. It was a hopeful time." Change also came to the
Catholic Church, including the liturgical reforms of Vatican
II. For Les, growing up in a rural and more traditional parish,
having the priest face the people was a big adjustment for
many. For her part Barb "welcomed" the changes. "I still like
them," she says, noting that even though practices may change
the faith remains the same. During the years after Vatican
II, some people left the church. Barb respected their decisions
but chose to remain. "We're boring," she says now with a laugh.
"We never did leave the church." Many questioned authority
and the church at that time, which Barb sees as a positive.
"So many times you did things and you didn't know why you
did them," she recalled. "That era we were living in didn't
make you afraid of questioning and finding out your own answers."
For Barb, the answers strengthened her faith rather than weakening
it. Investigating how the faith was passed down by "people
who walked with Jesus" has given her a deep "trust in the
faith line."
A shared love of the Mass
She and Les have passed along that faith to
their son Jeff, 24, and Tim, 22 and daughter Lesley, 16. All
three served the church as altar servers or lectors. Rather
than go and "just sit in the pew," Les and Barb taught their
children early on that you can participate. "We're very happy
with the faith journey they're on," said Barb. Barb and Les
share a love for the Mass. As young adults during the 1970s,
Barb would go to church after work and Les would attend the
4:10 campus Mass at Central Michigan. They continue to attend
daily Mass whenever they can. "Where else can you go where
you can be forgiven, get support and fed all in one place,"
said Barb. "It's kind of one-stop shopping." Barb smiles as
she recalls visits to Les' house where it seemed someone was
always praying the rosary. Yet that sense of faith, of turning
to God, through good times and bad left an enduring mark on
both of them. That's not to say it's always been easy. "Sometimes
you have to gut it out a little bit," said Les. "If it's worth
having, which we obviously feel it is; then, you have to work
for it." "That's right," agreed Barb. "It's effort. You work
with God. You don't have to push against him. You work with
Him and things will work out."
|
