A TRUE GENTLEMAN - ALBERT W. RICH IS LAID TO REST

A TRUE GENTLEMAN, ALBERT RICH IS LAID TO REST

Funeral Services was held Wednesday, May 12, 2004, at 11 a.m. from the United Church of Fairfax. The Reverend Elizabeth Griffin, pastor, officiated. By special request from Albert, Father Maurice U. Boucher, SSE director of St. Anne’s Shrine in Isle La Motte and pastor of St. Amadeus Parish Alburg and St. Joseph’s Mission in Isle La Motte assisted. Albert was loved and respected by all faiths and it was just “So Albert,” to insist that Father Boucher, a long time friend, assist at his funeral.

Organist Patty Bellows Smith provided music.

Reverend Elizabeth Griffin stated that, Albert, with his idiosyncratic concern for perfection made all of us think about how we did things, and encouraged all of us to rise to a higher standard.

To Albert, family, work and community were the most important things, and
that was evidenced in how he lived his life. He was a gentleman, a
traditionalist, and a person always concerned for his fellow human beings!

There is not one community organization that he did not participate in on
some level that he did not help make better.

Father Boucher essentially said that what is most important to
consider, when we think of life and death, is that: that all of us die,
that in the casket none of us are any different, that the most important
thing about a person's life is what they do, how they care for and influence
others, and that Albert, through his life was a person who effected the
lives of many.

Among Albert’s many friends at the funeral, Mike Cain, President of The Fairfax Historical Society as well as a member of The Fairfax Fire Department said the following:

I had always known about Albert Rich my whole life. I knew he ran the funeral home. He was Selectman forever. He had been fire chief before. I really got to know Albert after his wife, Harriet, passed away and he would come down to the fire station on Tuesday nights and play cards. Although, he enjoyed playing cards, Albert also enjoyed talking about the old days. And when Lucien Hayes would come up after finishing for the day at the funeral home, they would talk shop.

I learned a lot of Fairfax History at that card table. There was Albert, Larry Parsons, Dick Ketchum, Jim Walford, Jim Fields. Doug Webb might show up. Orman Ovitt, too. The stories of how Fairfax used to be and how things have changed were prominent. I sat, listened, and even asked questions. I found out how Albert was one of the workers who helped clean up the power station at the falls after the 1927 flood. He then took the money he earned and drove with some friends to Florida.
We played "500" and Albert was usually partnered with Larry Parsons. When Albert would win the bid, he would take all the cards and start sorting them out. A conversation was usually going on, and he would take 4-5 minutes sorting his cards. He would have three piles in front of him. He would finally get the cards sorted, look at me and say-" What was the bid?". "Eight no trump." Albert would look at the cards and say "Well, Larry, I hate to say it, but we're set higher than Gilroy's Kite." I never asked who Gilroy was or why he flew a kite, because it would have been another 10-15 minutes before we started playing again.
Other quotes from the card table:

"Who dealt the hand?"
"I did, Albert".
"By God, you should be ashamed of yourself."

"Who dealt this mess?"
"Ketchum did."
"Yup, I might have known. Ketchum always deals me a lousy hand."

"We gotta finish up here pretty soon, boys. I've got a funeral tomorrow."
(Back when he was working at Kidders in Swanton.)

"Who did you have today, Lucien?"
"A mister so-and-so from Belvidere."
" I buried his parents. They were good people."

One time, Lucien came in and sat down behind Albert.
"Well, I buried so-and-so from Cambridge today."
Albert got this horrified look on his face, put his cards together, laid them on the table, turned around in his chair and said, "By God, I buried him 50 years ago."
"Nope, this was his son (or grandson).

Albert's superstition was legendary.
One time Albert and my father, Frank, were at the old fire station and needed to go check something. The overhead doors were opened and when they left, Albert went one side of the post and Dad went the other side. When Albert saw what Dad had done, Albert turned around and went back in and came out the same side as Dad.
"Don't you ever do that to me again! If you don't leave together, you don't come back together."

One time Albert and Dad were heading to Enosburg to a Mason meeting. They were about 10 minutes away when a black cat ran across the road in front of them.
"Oh my God, Frank! We have to turn around and go back home."
"Like Hell we will! We're almost there."
They made it to the meeting Ok but on the way home, Albert kept saying "Something bad's going to happen. Something bad's going to happen."

Lucien Hayes mentioned how he enjoyed going to the Funeral Directors Meetings. Albert was so well respected, he said that the other Funeral Directors treated Albert like “The Pope.”

I spoke with a number of people at the funeral and all, out of respect for Albert, did what they thought Albert would have wanted them to do. For example, one man, who normally wore a beard, was clean shaven. I told him I hardly recognized him and his response was, “Albert hated beards, you know.”

As for myself, I rarely wear a white shirt and tie, but out of respect for Albert, not only did I wear one to his wake, but also to his funeral, just because I knew that that is what Albert would have wanted me to do.

Another individual mentioned the fact that they were up bright and early that morning washing their vehicle to come to the funeral. Why?? Albert liked clean cars you know.

The true meaning of respect and honor for an individual is doing what you know they would want you to do without being asked to do so. As Reverend Griffin stated Albert, with his idiosyncratic concern for perfection made all of us think about how we did things, and encouraged all of us to rise to a higher standard, even after death.

In April of 1996, I interviewed Albert on the occasion of his 96th birthday. Now it took me about 3 weeks to make an appointment with him to do this. He told me he had a lot of things on his schedule, but when he saw that I was going to pursue this until I succeeded, a very specific time and date was set up. Once I had taken the picture, he told me he wanted it in color. Well, the only way I could get a color picture in The St. Albans Messenger was to get it put on the front page. I called Gary Rutkowski down at the Messenger and told him my plight. Gary knew Albert as he had been down to the Messenger office with me before and assured me that Albert’s photo would be on the front page in color in honor of his 96th birthday. After the interview, Albert read it over and one item he insisted that I include was that his business and any success he had in life could all be attributed to one person and that was his wife Harriet. He gave me a photo to include with the article of him and Harriet at a Funeral Director’s Convention down in Fairlee, Vt. Whenever I went up to see Albert about some Historical Fairfax Question, he would start searching through his papers and albums and when he couldn’t find it would say, “If Harriet was here, she would know right where that was, she was so organized.”

Albert’s funeral must have truly placed a lot of pressure on John Workman and his staff, however, they came through in flying colors and it was a wonderful tribute to Albert.

When I arrived at The United Church for the funeral, numerous shiny black limos were lined up and Members of the Vermont and National Funeral Directors Associations formed a large guard of honor.

Among the many delegations in attendance were representatives from the Vermont Senate and House of Representatives, Lamoille Lodge 6 F&AM, Fairfax Fire Department, Fairfax Town Offices and local representatives, Fairfax Community Library, Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax faculty and trustees, Fairfax Historical Society, Fairfax Senior Citizens, Georgia Town Selectboard, The Total Home Center and Vermont Furniture Galleries.

Interment followed in the Rich family lot in Sanderson Corners Cemetery with Father Boucher, assisted by The Reverend Mrs. Griffin, reading the committal prayers.

The bearers, members of the Fairfax Fire Department, were Chief James Field and firefighters Michael Cain and Duane Leach; Also members of Lamoille Lodge #6 F&Am, including Lucien Hayes, John Mitchell and Douglas Webb.

As part of the ceremony, the bearers each removed their white gloves and the rose from their lapel and placed it at Albert’s casket before burial.

Following The Prayers of Committal, a luncheon reception was served in the church fellowship hall, hosted by members of the parish.