Birth and Childhood

Alberta was born on June 3, 1915, in Akron, Ohio.

When she was a small child, Alberta’s father, George, came into the house in time to hear her crying. Her mother, Louise, accidently pulled her hair while trying to get tangles out of it. George immediately told Louise that would never happen again, and he made an appointment for Alberta to have her hair done at a neighborhood beauty shop. From that time until she passed away she had weekly appointments to have her have done, and she NEVER did her own hair in her entire life.

She attended Lane School from first grade through eighth grade.

When her younger brother, George Wilbur (Bud) started school, Alberta was expected to watch out for him because she was 2 years older. She took a hatpin from home and, if anyone bothered Bud, she would poke them with the pin. At that time there was no kindergarten and elementary school ended at the end of eighth grade.

Alberta worked at the family store as a child. She learned to help customers and do other jobs that were age appropriate. Christmas was a particularly difficult time at the store. The Roush children had to do things like plucking feathers off of turkeys and weighing potatoes and bagging them. They worked so hard for long hours that Alberta came to relate Christmas as hard work. The one thing that she loved about Christmas was the orange in the toe of her stocking on Christmas morning. Oranges were rare and difficult to get at that time.

A growth developed on the back of her leg, drawing her leg up and causing pain. The doctor determined that the growth needed to be removed. He gave her medication to eliminate the pain of the removal, but the medication caused nerve damage. Alberta developed an occassional neurological reaction which caused her to severly twist her head and shoulder which lasted for the rest of her life.

One sunny day, Alberta was in front of her parents’ store when a cute kitten approached her. She reached down and petted the cat, but the fur came off on her hand and the cat’s skin was gooey. After that she never wanted a pet and did not enjoy touching animal fur.

Husband

On December 4, 1933, Alberta and Roy Hodges Aldstadt eloped to Cumberland, Hancock County, West Virginia. For the license, Alberta stated that she was 21 years old, but she was actually 18 years old. Years later she told her daughter, Patricia, that she married Roy because all of the other girls wanted to marry him. Roy worked as a salesman for a dairy.

She realized that she had made a mistake, so, when her father offered her a charge account at a local department store if she left her husband, she left Roy and moved back into her parents’ home. This led to their divorce. Alberta returned to using the surname Roush in 1935, but when she applied for her marriage license in 1939, she used the name Aldstadt.

Post Divorce Fun

Following her divorce from Roy, Alberta returned to her parent’s home. There she finished her high school education and worked at the family grocery store. She began dating again, often scheduling two dates for the same day. More than once the dates would meet on the front porch: one dropping her off while another was arriving to pick her up. At least once the dates engaged in fisticuffs.

During this time, Alberta spent time horseback riding. Because she rode English she owned her own jodhpurs, boots, and crop.

Husband

The first time that Alberta saw Coy Eugene Yerkey was when she was at her parent’s store and he got off of the bus after work. She decided then that she wanted to meet him, and she did!

They married in Akron, Ohio on August 25, 1939, exactly 27 years after her parents’ wedding. At the time, Coy Eugene (Gene) was divorced and had a little girl named Penny.

Children

Texas

Just one year after Alberta and Gene were married, World War II was raging in Europe. They were living at 679 West Thornton Street, Akron, Ohio.

The war was about to change the lives of Alberta, Gene and Penny. Their fear must have surfaced when Gene had to fill out a Draft Registration for the government. Fortunately for them, Gene was sent by his employer, the B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company, to their subsidiary, Lone Star Defense Corporation. Alberta, Gene and Penny were off on a new adventure when they left for Texarkana, Texas on Monday, March 23, 1942. .

One day Gene told Alberta that he was going to bring his boss home for dinner and that she should fix something delicious. Alberta went to the market and purchased shrimp. She was so proud to serve the breaded, fried shrimp she had made. But suddenly, there were “CRUNCH” sounds as Gene and his boss bit into the shrimp. Gene asked Alberta if she had taken the shells off of the shrimp, and Alberta replied that she didn’t know that she was supposed to do that!

Gene and his friend Louie Boyer loved to go fishing together at night. One night they caught an alligator! Louie said that he could not take the alligator home because his wife would really be angry. Gene said that he would take it because his wife wouldn’t mind. When Alberta opened the refrigerator the next morning, there was a dead alligator taking up a whole shelf. Surprisingly, she wasn’t happy!

Akron

Tragedy!

August 4, 1940, was an exciting time for Alberta and Gene when their beautiful, blond baby boy, Richard Eugene, was born.

Unfortunately their joy was shortlived. When Dickie was just 3 years old, he was accidently killed.

Alberta and Gene were very strict parents and did not tolerate misbehavior or disrespect. When Patricia was a little girl she told Alberta “No!” when she was told to do something. Alberta immediately spanked Patricia and told her, “Don’t you ever tell me no again. Are you ever going to tell me no again?” Patricia knew that she would be spanked if she said “No” so she said, “Yes!” Alberta spanked her again! Bob stepped in and explained what his mother was doing, saving Patricia from more spankings.

Alberta would go to the children’s schools and look into the classroom windows to make sure they were doing their work and behaving. The children knew that Alberta could be spying on them at any time.

Bogotá, Colombia

Moving to Bogotá, Colombia was a huge cultural shock for Alberta. Seeing billboards advertising products in Spanish was her first introduction to her new world. Next she had to realize that language was a problem. She did not understand what most people were saying to her, and she could not easily make herself understood. Then she had learn to use pesos. At that time $12.50 Colombian pesos was the equivalent to $1.00 in US dollars.

Women’s rights in Colombia at that time were far behind those in the United States. A woman in Colombia was required by law to have written permission from her husband to leave the country.

Shopping

Alberta’s role as a housewife also changed drastically. She now had maids, a gardener, and a chauffeur who spoke no English. Shopping for groceries was an adventure. Her choice was a modern supermarket named Carulla or an open air market.

Alberta, Gene and the children explored and enjoyed new fruits such as pitaya (dragon fruit), curuba (banana passion fruit) and vegetables such as yuca. Tropical fruits were abundant, but other fruits that they were accustomed to, such as apples and pears, were not available.

During that time the family had to be very careful about the safety of their foods and beverages. If the water was not purified, it could cause abdominal disturbances called “turista”. Milk and cream was not always pasturized, so Alberta had to learn which dairies did the pasteurizing.

Sellers sometimes lied about the meat that they were selling. For example, burro or horse could be sold as beef. Alberta went to a German meat market in a small town close to Bogotá. The open, unscreened window allowed flies to enter the market and land on the meat. Alberta brought a large basket lined with freezer wrap. She was careful to place her order so that the roasts and steaks were on the bottom and meat was on the top because the meatcutters did not wrap any of the meat. After the chauffeur carried the basket into the kitchen at the house, Alberta and a maid separated all of the meats and wrapped them for storage.

Alberta had a dressmaker who would come to the house, look at magazine pictures of the desired clothing items and create them. Shopping for shoes was very different. The shoe size was determined by measuring the length of the arm from the wrist bone to the elbow.

Attempted Kidnapping

Due to security issues in Colombia, Alberta had very little freedom to go anywhere without being driven by Gene or the chauffeur, Alvaro. One afternoon the chauffeur had dropped Alberta off at the beauty shop, and Patricia was to get off of the school bus there so that they could go shopping in the nearby stores at Chapinero shopping area. Instead, Alberta told Patricia that she wanted to go to a new shopping area called Chico Norte and that they could take a taxi there. Patricia stated that if her father found out that they took a taxi, he would be very angry. Alberta knew that nothing bad would happen, and Gene would never know. They got into the taxi and told the driver to take them to Chico Norte. When the driver drove past the shopping area and did not respond to their demands that he stop, Alberta and Patricia realized that they were being kidnapped! Patricia was seated behind the driver and realized that she had to do something fast. She began to choke the driver until he lost control of the car and ran into a wall. Alberta jumped out one door, and Patricia jumped out of the other door. They ran back to the shopping area. In the meantime, when Gene and Alvaro could not find them at Chapinero, they drove to Chico Norte and found them.

Danger at the Finca

Icollantas owned a “finca” or farm at the edge of the rain forest, about 2 hours drive from Bogotá. This property was reserved for the use of only the top three people in the company and their families. The finca had a maid, a cook, and a man who maintained the buildings and took care of the crops. Papaya, grapefruit, pineapple, oranges, and coffee were some of the foods grown on the finca. It was common to see coffee being dried in long wooden trays beside of the driveway. The beans were raked frequently.

Although it was called a farm, the Icollantas families enjoyed other activities on the property. These included use of a regulation tennis court, a pool for adults and one for children, and a separate building which housed a wet bar, pool table and ping pong table.

Once, while Gene was on a business trip to Medellin, Colombia, Alberta had Alvaro take her and the children to the finca. Once they arrived, Alvaro asked if he could visit a friend who was the mayor of the village a few miles up the montain. Alberta and the children put their bathing suits on and went swimming. Suddenly, Alvaro came speeding up to the house, jumped out of the car and told the family that they had to leave immediately. As he threw the suitcases into the trunk, Alberta and the children threw shirts over their bathing suits and jumped into the car. As they were waiting to pull out of the entrance to the finca, a large dumptruck drove past with human arms and legs visible sticking out of the bed of the truck and blood dripping out of the back. Revolutionary guerrilla fighters had entered the village just a few miles down the mountain from the finca and murdered many people. The family was no longer safe and had to leave.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING BUTTON TO READ LETTERS THAT ALBERTA WROTE WHILE SHE WAS IN COLOMBIA

Mexico

When Gene was transferred to Mexico City, the family checked into a hotel called Shirley Courts where they stayed for several weeks. Shirley Courts was a 2-story hotel with doors leading from the large rooms directly to the outside. There was a huge courtyard with flowers, palm trees and chairs for the guests to enjoy the beauty. The restaurant was convenient and offered good food.

Mexico City was a welcome new home for Alberta, Gene and the children. They were not in shock about the cultural differences or language. The weather was always beautiful, the people were very friendly, and it was much safer than their previous home. Alberta once again had the freedom to drive, go shopping and spend time with friends without waiting for the chauffeur to be available.

Alberta loved the beauty of Mexico City. Many monuments to people and events in Mexico’s history are situated along Paseo de la Reforma, a multi-lane boulevard which which goes from Chapultepec Park to the Zócalo, the main public plaza of Mexico City. These monuments are in the centers of its major traffic circles, and include monuments to Columbus, Cuauhtemoc, and the monument to Independence, "El Ángel".

They moved into a home at Conscripto 280, Lomas Hipódromo, Naucalpan, State of Mexico, Mexico, across the street from the Chapultepec Golf Club. Their home was only a short drive to Hipódromo de las Américas, the horse race track where thoroughbred and quarter horses competed. Alberta loved to gamble and loved horses so many Fridays from late January through to mid-December Alberta and Patricia would head for the race track as soon as Patricia got off of the school bus.

Although the family’s live-in cook made delicious meals, Alberta enjoyed cooking some of her own favorites and enjoyed entertaining and eating at some of the wonderful restaurants of Mexico City.

Randolph, Ohio

Watering the ducks

Foretelling

Everyone in the family knew that Alberta had psychic abilities. During World War II Gene had to take important classified government documents to Texarkana, Texas. Before he got on the train, Alberta told him that he was going to lose the papers. Because of her warning Gene checked for the papers while on the train. Just as Alberta had predicted, the papers were gone! Gene summoned the conductor and had the train stopped at the next station. The FBI boarded the train and began to search. The papers were found down in the back of the train seat. Alberta had saved the day.

Every year Gene would bring home the metal car licenses which came in manila envelopes and told her that she could not have them unless she told him the number on the plates. She did it year after year!

She foretold car accidents of at least two family members, her son Bob and her grandson Chris. Both Bob and Chris did have the accidents! She often told her sister, Betty, who was going to phone her later in the day. She was always correct. Family members would call her if they lost their keys, glasses or something else. She would say, “Let me think about it. I’ll call you in a few minutes” Soon she would return the call and say something like, “I see your keys beside a bag of potatoes.” The lost items were always where she indicated.

Alberta and Gene loved to go to Las Vegas to play the slot machines. Alberta would always win, and Gene mostly lost unless Alberta told him which machines to play. Once, they won so much money that they went to their hotel room and jumped on the bed, throwing money into the air. They spent so much time gambling that the casino provided a limo to and from the airport, free room, and all meals.

Alberta was only known to be wrong once. She called her daughter-in-law, Doris, early one morning and told her to be careful driving to work or she would get a speeding ticket. Alberta’s daughter, Pat, got the speeding ticket that morning!

When Pat asked her mother to teach her to see the future, Alberta told her to stare at a blank wall, clear her mind, and see the visions.

Smoking