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ALBERT WILLIAM PLUMMER.
A travelling Engineer.
Albert William Plummer, was born
at Victoria, BC. Canada, on November, 10th, 1915, and died at at his
home in Midlothian, Virgina, USA , on July, 17th, 2006. The youngest
of nine children of Mary McWillie, and Francis Edward Plummer.
In a report he prepared for this author he recalled how along
with his brother and sisters they all helped out in their parents general
store and picking fruit, especially strawberries. Albert developed
engineering skills early in life because around the age of five
he was wirtten up in the local paper for damming up a local creek.
Albert, along with his big brothers before him, always knew they wanted
to build dams! but as a youth also developed a love of baseball and
was called "Slugger Al", Albert went to the University
of Washington where he earned a degree in Civil Engineering and also
became maintained his interest in baseball. He was
picked up by the minor league, L.A. Dodgers. He played
in a couple of triple A ball leagues, before joining the military
during World WarII, becoming a Chief Petty Officer in the US
navy.
During the war he was stationed at Camp Perry, VA,
and is where he met Eva Massie, at a local USO social. They
where married in July of 1944. Following his military service he
got a job with the California Bureau of Reclamation and the family took
up residence in Sacramento, California. By this time they
had a daughter Betty, who was about six and their son John, who had
recently been born. Alberts job was with the US State Department's
ICA program and the family went to the eastern Belgain Congo, from
1954 to 1956, residing in picturesque Lake Kivu, Bukavu. Family
members recall him telling stories of meeting gorillas in the Ugandan
mountains.
From 1957 until 1861 Albert moved his family to Ankara,
Turkey where Albert consulted with Turkish professionals, on irrigation
projects, one of whom later became the Turkish President. During
that period the family visited various spectaclar archeological sites
in the area. During 1962 to 66 they lived in Teheran, Iran, where
Al, enjoyed an avocation of studying and buying Persian carpets, becoming
something of an expert in counting knots! he also taught his son John
to pitch baseball and who as a result became a Little League pro.
From
1970 to 1972 Albert and Eva lived in Tunis, Tunisia, working for USAID,
again on water projects and enjoying the Mediterranean beach near
the ancient city of Carthage. After 1972 Albert spent a time
with the World Bank in India, where one day in a New Delhi hotel elevator
he ran into the familys former landlady from Teheran. Since
1982 Albert and Eva have lived in Midlothian, Virgina, in the United
States by the nearby Brandermill Lake. During retirement Albert
and Eva where able to realized their life long dream of visiting Australia
during which time Albert found time to write his thesis
on economics. He also enjoyed gardening, landscaping, golfing
while also helping out the local civic associations and keeping
up with public affairs, relatives, and his old friends from Turkey,
Iran, and Tunisia.
Robert McWillie.
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