Junior Moak Albritton

Moak was born the 18th of September, 1928 in Bogue Chitto, MS to Jacob and Polly Anne (Moak) Albritton. He said he was “the seventh child and sixth son of nine children”. After the family lost the farm during the depression, they moved to the Strawberry District in Louisiana where they were share croppers for the next ten years. He attended school through the 7th grade but did not finish the 8th because he joined the Marine Corps in January of 1946. He would have joined sooner, but his mother asked him to wait until some of his brothers came back from serving. He was in Paris Island for boot camp, Camp LeJune, then Marimar CA and within six months he was in Tientsin, China which made him one of the few China Marines. After coming back to the states in 1947, he worked to help his family with groceries and expenses before re-enlisting in January of 1948 which sent him to New Orleans, DC, Camp LeJune, and then Chicago. While stationed in Chicago he met the love of his life, Shirley Rittenhouse. In 1953, he had some friends over to his room that he shared with two other Marines at a residential hotel that had a TV: a rarity at the time. One of the friends invited three young ladies to watch TV and Shirley was one of them. They married in 1954 and began their life together. Their marriage, which would last nearly 70 years, had three children, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

After Chicago he had multiple duty stations including Vietnam where he worked diligently to make sure the soldiers were paid. He landed in Kansas City in 1969 where he and Shirley made their home for more than 53 years. She took care of the inside of the home and he had the almost one acre and out buildings for himself. Moak retired from his last post at the Marine Corps Finance Center in 1974 as a CWO3 (Chief Warrant Officer 3) after 28 years of service to his country.

After the military, he attended Longview College and earned two Associates degrees: one in Business and one Associate of Arts. Retirement brought him many passions. He was either working as a handyman (for 30 years), playing his mandolin, bowling, volunteering at the VFW Post 8100, or fishing. He also loved gathering walnuts from his trees and cracking them, as well as pecans, in the living room. Several grandkids remember the day they were strong enough to crack them and help him. He also had a passion for collecting things that other people didn’t have a use for anymore when he could still see the value.

He was active in the Mid-Western Artifact Society using his metal detector. He uncovered treasures hunting in parks or in peoples’ yards over the years including all types of jewelry, coins, and toys as well as helping people find lost jewelry. On many occasions he was responsible for recovering evidence from a crime scene. He also participated in many metal detecting hunts both on the preparation side of burying things and the hunting side of finding things and competing for prizes.

He really loved working in his exceptionally large garden growing many things including peanuts. He harvested the peanuts and had a large peanut boil every year on the third Saturday in September for more than 30 years where he educated anyone who wanted to know about how to grow peanuts. He lovingly worked for more than 50 years growing food for his family, for the love of gardening and for conservation which was also important to him. Up until they moved, you would find him in the garden, no matter the temperature, pulling weeds and tending to the plants. Two knee replacements and a broken femur in his 80s didn’t stop him from gardening or hosting his peanut boils.

Moak leaves behind his wife, Shirley, daughter Pam (Lewis) Henderson, son Dan Albritton, and daughter Stephanie (Mark) Doerflinger. His grandkids, who he adored, Brett (Andrea) Henderson, Richard (Shea) Henderson, Ben (Kam) Doerflinger, Bailey (Mathew) McCaulley, Danielle Albritton and Jake Albritton, his eight great-grandchildren: Alexandra, Eleanor, Claire, Graham, Drew, Rhett, Elliott, and Beau. Also his beloved niece Kathy (Ed) Manda of Lawrence, KS and many other special nieces and nephews that live across the country.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Missouri Department of Conservation, any military organization (including VFW Post 8100), or American Heart Association.