Harriet S. Albers

Nicknamed “Har” to those who loved her most. She was born in 1940 in Bronx NY to parents Lena and Murray. She had a younger sister, Rowena “Row” that she adored. For some reason, Row thought her big sister Harriet was the best sister ever. In fairness, this was pretty accurate.

At age 11, she met her best friend, Susan. Besties forever, or BFF’s if you prefer. They experienced all stages of life together; school, double dating, weddings, families, and loss of loved ones. Mostly, they shared great conversation, offered advice when requested, a shoulder to lean on, and above all; love and laughter.

Her childhood schooling included accelerated classes which enabled her to show off her smarts allowing her to advance to George Washington High School ahead of schedule. She attended City College where she earned a bachelor’s degree which she put to good use as a teacher in “The City”.

She married young, to the love of her life Saul, who adored her and swept her off to Japan for the early days of their marriage. She never failed to let people know that she had lived in Japan. It’s almost as if she truly enjoyed that experience and adventure.

Being the smart woman that she was, she made sure that her brother-in-law, Ron, was also one of her biggest fans. Harriet and Saul would take brother Ron and sister Row to all types of day outings in the city; you know, Coney Island, ball games etc.… This created an everlasting friendship of their young siblings, which brought great joy to Harriet and Saul.

Harriet and Saul apparently enjoyed some alone time because they created two daughters, Dale and Meredith “Meri”. They both inherited Harriet’s height genes. Both are truly grateful for that. Harriet was short as you know what. What she lacked in height, she made up for with mouth. Did you know that before the existence of cell phones, you could find your lost children simply by yelling their names in whatever store you were in? She was clearly ahead of her time. Tracking locators on phones were created in an effort to keep up with her.

Harriet, Saul and Dale found their way to Poughkeepsie NY and planted roots there. Meri arrived a little later. Their first neighbors -friends were Annette and Shelly, along with their three children; Josh, Barbara and Marris. The families remained the type of friends that knocked first, but just walked in without waiting for someone to open the door for them. That’s the sign of friends that are family. I don’t think they went a single week without seeing each other. Annette and Shelly would be in Harriet’s life forever. Thankfully.

Sadly, Har’s loving husband died at a young age leaving her a young widow with two small children. Fierce and driven, she “made” corporate giant IBM give her a job. Fortunately for them, she was an outstanding employee. She worked her way up to become a manager before it was the norm for females to attain this position. Justifiably, she took pride in the fact that she was well respected by her far larger male employees. Being a Purchasing Manager was something she took pride in and truly enjoyed.

Even with all her job responsibilities, Harriet always made sure that daughters Dale and Meri did their homework, did their chores, got picked up from school when they were sick, made sure they got to ballet, piano, horseback riding classes and made sure they had family dinners every night. She proved her love of them in everything she did for them. She took her role as their protector as her ultimate responsibility in life. Her love for them was the most important love in her life.

She eventually found a new romantic love in her life who she would wind up marrying. Seth Albers became her next true love. They would eventually marry, but not before they “lived in sin” for more than a decade. She embraced non-conformity and lived life in her way.

Seth also had children. Three to be exact; Rebecca “Becky”, Kent and Roger. The combined families formed a skewed version of the Brady Bunch. The siblings were not technically step sisters and brothers, more like escalator sisters and brothers.

Harriet loved to take family road trips in the orange and tan Econovan. Who wouldn’t with five children in a van that predated on-board video devices? Adventure and fun were to be found at all the tourist traps on the east coast, as well as apple picking, fine dining, and some less than fine dining. Oddly, fun ensued even when the Econovan caught fire on a road in the middle of nowhere. Among the occupants of the van at the time was a large bag of recently purchased fireworks. You get the picture. Nah, just kidding, the fireworks were removed. I told you Harriet was smart; she wouldn’t let that happen. Come on, keep up.

When her sister Rowena married Stuart “Stu”, she got to embrace another brother-in-law with love, and was easily able to win him over as well. Oh yeah, he joined the ranks of her admiring fans. When they had their son Mathew “Mat”, she became the proudest of all aunts. He was not just a nephew; he was a son. He too was a fan of his favorite Aunt Harriet.

Harriet made Seth take her all over the world. Their time spent traveling was wonderful, except for anyone who had to view their endless pictures of a huge rock, or cliff, or tree, or lake, OY! Memories of wherever they went were brought back with in the form of some unique chachka. Interesting trinkets from everywhere filled their home.

It was time for Harriet’s next journey – retirement and relocation.

While she and Seth could not really claim they were religious, they still followed the law of migration to Florida, as all New York Jews are required to do. At least according to Jerry Seinfeld. They found fun and new friends at “Camp Retirement” in Greenacres, FL.

Harriet became one of the founding members of the Yo-Yo’s. The Yo-Yo sisterhood consisted of JoAnne, Judy, Bobbi, Eileen, Norma and of course Harriet. Harriet’s uncontrollable laugh ensured that any event attended by the Yo-Yo’s would result in tears of laughter for all. You know the expression, “in every life a little rain must fall”? Well, in their case, with every laugh, a little pee must fall.

Harriet was the “hostess with the mostest”. She loved to throw dinner parties, which required setting the table three days in advance. Even if it was just plastic plates, cups and utensils. Don’t judge her, this was before it was unacceptable to use plastic.

Among her favorite parties was the inevitable Hurricane Block Party thanks to power outages. It was a BYOFC party. That stands for Bring Your Own Freezer Contents. The gas grill was lit, lanterns were lit, wine was poured, and eventually the party attendees were also lit.

Harriet was humored by friends as they welcomed her “attempts” to play Mah Jong. Winning ten cents was a big win for her. Her talents were better served as a board member for her neighborhood HOA. She was one of the “educators” that helped convince the community POA that speed bumps directly in front of security gates causes damage to vehicles. The satisfaction she felt when they were removed was expressed many times, to many people.

She also worked with Hadassah for several years and loved the challenge of contributing to successful charity events. She respected the good that this organization provided by aiding others.

More joy in Harriet’s life was the arrival of her favorite grandchildren. Becky’s son Justin and daughter Ally brought immense happiness to her heart. Buying them everything and showering them with gifts was a mission for her. More importantly she loved playing with them. Getting down on the ground to play board games with them was how grandma Harriet enjoyed spending time with the newest loves in her family. In fairness, she was already pretty close to ground level even when standing, so it wasn’t really an effort.

Harriet had great praise for Becky’s role as mom. Grandma Harriet was so proud of how smart, talented, well-mannered and joyful her grandchildren were. She knew this was due to Becky’s outstanding parenting skills.

Sadly, Harriet would again lose a loving husband. Seth passed away after many years of the effects of Muscular Dystrophy. She had battled the illness with him and was the epitome of care givers.

She would find yet another special man in her life. Love number three was Buddy. He too adored her and doted on her. He thought she was the most amazing person in the world. Together they continued to enjoy life and make sure fun was always a priority. Harriet once again played a role as caregiver as Buddy was experiencing challenges in his health. He reciprocated with love when Harriet needed a helping hand, or more importantly her hand to be held.

To ensure your memories are of the Harriet just described, I will omit any discussion of the illness that kept her from being the woman we all remember. I will say this though, her strength showed she was a fighter. Take that Alzheimer’s!

She was truly fortunate to have care provided by some wonderful people. They showed her the respect and dignity she deserved, and loved her as family. Marlene, Medeline and Catia, her friends and family thank you for taking such great care. Your love and dedication were obvious.

To everyone at Brighton Gardens, we are grateful to you too. Your love for her spanned many years and you enabled her family comfort in the knowledge she was being looked after with heart.

To those members of Vitas hospice care, thank you. You too helped her family navigate this rough road and treated her as a friend.

In summary, Harriet Albers was very bright, strong, full of energy, well respected, generous, practical, sentimental, loving, caring, fierce, strong some more, ethical (most of the time), worked hard, and laughed hard. And of course, could cause a rock slide when she yelled. But…she could not play the piano, or sing. Seriously, she really could not sing.

Most importantly, she was a great daughter, a great sister, a great wife (twice), sister-in law (twice), a great aunt, a great grandmother, and of course a great mom. But most people who knew her considered her a great friend.

Aren’t you glad you didn’t stop at “She was AMAZING!”

Now you know why.

There is no official funeral being held. Family and friends will join forces in New York and Florida for recanting memories of how she made them smile.

Thank you for being in Harriets life. You helped make her who she was. She will never leave the heart of anyone who truly knew her.

If you would like to honor Harriet, we request that in lieu of flowers you make a donation to a charity of your choice.

Some of the organizations that were important to her are:

Vitas Healthcare – her hospice care providers

Alzheimer’s Association

Muscular Dystrophy Association

American Cancer Society

American Heart Association