Lawrence Alan Albert, 66, the best man his wife and two daughters have ever known, left us very suddenly on December 27, 2023. He was a wonderful father who had the best advice, and most recently an amazing Pa to his three grandsons. He was also stubborn and hard-headed and his way to do things was the right way. And we loved him every day for it.

Lawrence was born on November 21, 1957, in Decatur, Illinois. He was raised by his grandparents, Plato and Neva Albert in Lovington, Illinois. Lawrence was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot, or “blue baby syndrome”, meaning he had a hole in his heart that let blood flow between the chambers, creating a lack of oxygen in the blood. At the age of six, he went to the Mayo Clinic for open heart surgery to have the hole repaired, a surgery that would let him live another 60 years, far longer than he or his doctors expected.

Lawrence married Patricia Wiggle, on June 4, 1976. They were married 47 years and created a beautiful life together, including having two daughters, Denise and Emily. And Lawrence never let them off the hook just because they were girls.

Lawrence was an exceptionally hard-working man and expected his wife and daughters to do the same. Thanks to him, Emily was mowing a solid two acres on a riding mower by age 6. (Denise was less interested in lawn care). Also thanks to Lawrence, Patti, Denise, and Emily know how to roof and side a house, dig hundreds of holes to install chain link fence, use nothing but sledge hammers to break up a concrete driveway (to the point the neighbor took pity and came to help out), dig a koi pond after dark because the job was not yet done, replumb and renovate a whole house, and worry like nobody’s business that a sump pump is going to fail.

But it wasn’t all work all the time. Through his job in shipping and logistics at GSI, Lawrence traveled the world — from Malaysia to South Africa, Holland, China, Mexico, and Brazil, and his family loved when dad would come home with the best stories (including some misadventures) and the phone ringing with unusual accents on the other end of new friends he’d made during his travels.

Above all else, Lawrence loved, LOVED his family. When Patti had breast cancer 20+ years ago, Lawrence learned to cook and he so much enjoyed cooking for his family. Every time Denise and Emily moved (and they sure did a lot of moving), he was right there with a truck and trailer, ready to help and make sure his girls had exactly what they needed. When Patti’s mom, Donna, was ill toward the end of her life, Patti and Lawrence moved her into their home and Lawrence retired to do everything he could to make sure she was taken care of too. He loved his family and they knew it every single day.

These last few years have been some of the hardest for the Albert family, but also full of joy as Denise and Emily both married wonderful men (within about six months of each other, that stressed Lawrence out) and had children, the older boys at the same time (again, stressed Lawrence out). But one of the most unexpected things was how much Pa loved on and was involved with his grandsons. Pa loved his boys something fierce, his Archer, Lincoln, and Everett. There’s not a thing Lawrence wouldn’t do for his boys, in some cases shockingly out of character. Pa wiped noses and sticky hands, shared drinks, and built his boys a golf cart track and playhouse in the woods.

Finally, Lawrence gave the best advice, the biggest of which was, if you’re going to do something, do it the right way. And on the hard days, just do the next right thing. The next right thing. There are going to be a lot of hard days ahead without him, but we will just keep doing the next right thing. For Lawrence, the best man we’ve ever known.

Lawrence is survived by his wife of 47 years, Patti (Wiggle) Albert; two daughters, Denise (Albert) Swarthout and Emily (Albert) Allensworth; sons-in-law Matthew Swarthout and Brian Allensworth; three grandsons, Archer Lorance Swarthout, Lincoln Michael Allensworth, and Everett Lawrence Allensworth; and many beloved friends. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Plato and Neva (Sheets) Albert; his mother, Violet (Albert) Palmer; and his father- and mother-in-law, Charles Wiggle and Donna (Tarr) Wiggle Shackelford.

Lawrence’s family will host a Celebration of Life on Saturday, January 6, 2024, at Doherty’s Pub from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m., with Eulogies and Toasts at 5:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, his family requests memorial donations to the Rural Gone Urban Foundation’s Love Bomb Grants to support women like his daughter Denise who are living and thriving with Stage 4 Breast Cancer. More information can be found at ruralgoneurban.org.