Marjorie Albacete passed away Sunday, July 6 at the age of 92, the victim of congestive heart failure, from which she had suffered bravely for the last several years.
Marge was born in Alabama in 1933 and came west to California in 1936 with her parents and brothers and sisters. They first settled in Marysville, then came on to Fairfield. To help her oldest sister with two small children she moved to Vacaville in high school, where she met her future husband of 63 years, Al. They were married in 1954 and had a son, Doug, in 1957.
Before her marriage Marge had worked at the Vacaville Theater, and as a telephone operator. With Al she went on to run an 80-acre fruit ranch--prunes, apricots, peaches, walnuts--at the corner of Peabody Rd. and Alamo Dr., at the same time keeping house for her small family. She and her husband retired happily from the years of hard ranch work, but the housework (and much-celebrated cooking) she kept up with for the rest of her life, still finding the time and energy for so much else: from PTA early on to local politics, the Vacaville Museum--and more than 50 years as a member of the Saturday Club, volunteering to manage its immunization and well-baby clinics, and organizing its Valentine teas.
For fun she had garage sales, flea markets and antique shows--buying, selling, and organizing; this had grown from years of crafting with her husband, working in salvaged wood. She loved gardening, and decorating for the holidays. She loved her home. She was never idle.
Most of all she loved her family, extended on her side and her husband's, doing so much for so long to make their lives happier. Almost all of them are gone now, as are so many others and as is so much of the Vacaville she knew. She is survived by her son, by scattered nieces and nephews, and by so many friends whose lives she brightened. She loved them all.
Mass will be celebrated Tuesday July 15 at 10 a.m. in Vacaville at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 350 Stinson Ave., with interment to follow at Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery on Elmira Rd.
