Obituary of Lucy Evans Albenesius

     Lucy Evans Albenesius passed away July 5, 2021.  Born Lucy Teague Evans July 25, 1924 in Lexington, NC, she was the daughter of William Bryant Evans and Lucy Teague Evans.  Her father was a pharmacist and her early life was a bit nomadic living in Salisbury, Mt. Airy, Davidson, Asheville and Greensboro by the time she was in high school.    She would always call Greensboro home as that is the town where her parents eventually settled down and from where both she and her father deployed to serve their country during World War II.  Lucy was a 1941 Graduate of Lee Edwards High School and a 1943 Graduate of St. Genevieve of the Pines, both in Asheville.  She was a bona fide veteran of World War II having served in the US Navy (posted in Washington, DC) from 1943 to 1945.  After her service to the nation she attended UNC (Chapel Hill) where she earned a B.A. in American History and met her husband of 68 years, Edward Leo Albenesius (married June 4, 1951).

     Lucy and Ed moved to Aiken in 1952 where Ed was employed by DuPont.  They began their Aiken life in Mamie and Arthur Foreman’s garage apartment at the corner of Whiskey and Brandy.  As their careers progressed and their opportunities increased, they had five children together and made their home in Crosland Park and Aiken Estates before eventually settling in Whitehall Estates (Calhoun Place).   They had two assignments in the bigger world including stints in Washington, DC and Vienna, Austria in the late 1980s/early 1990s. 

     Lucy was foremost a teacher with two very memorable stints in the profession, first at Aiken Elementary  and later at Saint Angela Academy.  She was an active parishioner at St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church and sang in the choir for many years, especially lending support to the Christmas Midnight Mass presentations.   Bridge club was a constant through most of her Aiken life and she had many close neighbors.  

     Lucy was predeceased by her parents, husband Ed, and firstborn daughter (Lucy Margaret) and son (Edward Robert) and a granddaughter (Hannah Barrett Albenesius) and her son-in-law (Gary Dannelly).  She is survived by a daughter Kathryn (Albenesius) Dannelly of Seabrook Island, SC and two sons Phillip William (Martha) Albenesius of Edisto Island, SC and Andrew Barrett Albenesius of Aiken, SC, eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren.       

     She was a cancer survivor living nearly 50 years after a near-fatal encounter with the disease and like St. Paul the Apostle, spending all of those years with her own private “thorn.”  If you had to find a single word to describe Lucy it was “tenacious.”  

     The family would like to express special thanks to Lucy’s caregivers and to her very special neighbors Jane Scott and Michael Bardi.  Memorials may be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society food pantry at St. Mary’s Church, 203 Park Avenue SE, Aiken, SC 29801 (Attn: Tom Babko) or St. Mary Help of Christians School, 118 York Street SE, Aiken, SC 29801 (Attn: Laura Webster).

     A Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 2:00p.m. at St Mary Help of Christians Church, 138 Fairfield St. SE, Aiken, 29801 with the Very Reverend Father Gregory Wilson as celebrant. Final Rite of Committal will follow in Calvary Cemetery

     There will be a visitation for family, friends and former students at the Historic George Funeral Home & Cremation Center, 211 Park Ave SW, Aiken, SC 29801 (803) 649.6234 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm, Wednesday, July 7.  

     Online expressions of sympathy for the family may be made by visiting www.georgefuneralhomes.com