ALBERT HAROLD CAMPBELL 1934-2021

Albert H. Campbell, 87, passed away very peacefully at home, sleeping in his favorite recliner on Saturday morning, the 28th of August 2021. Al was born during the Depression, in a cabin in the forest north of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. While his parents moved the family around tiny farming towns in the 1940s, he was waiting for his chance to literally fly the coop—he left home in 1954 to start a 43-year career in aviation that began with the Air Force. For 20 years Al flew as a crew member, led teams of up to 300 aircraft mechanics, and even flew in his free time: he used his G.I. Bill to earn his private pilot’s license and was an instructor pilot on a dozen different types of civilian aircraft. But the most important thing happened on the ground, in England in 1958, when Al married the love of his life, Valerie Marshall. From then on, they were Al & Val, a rhyme and a team, and none of us can think of one without picturing the other. (Except the Al picture is fast asleep in the living room with a coffee mug gripped in one hand and a TV remote in the other, a toothpick in his mouth, and a golf match on the screen with the volume at 80). They raised a family of three kids at the Cold War pace of Air Force life, moving to ten states and overseas to two countries. In 1974, Al retired at the top enlisted rank of Chief Master Sergeant and joined Lockheed to spend another 23 years working on planes in Saudi Arabia and California. An active Mason at various lodges around the world, he was affiliated longest with his lodge in Pomona and was a Most Excellent Past Master when he and Val finally retired and moved full-time to Las Vegas in 1997. Al enjoyed a long, slow, 24-year retirement: golfing, gambling, and grumbling about Democrats. But in the background, there was always a flight simulator program running, so really, he never stopped flying, ever. After Val passed away suddenly in 2020, Al was cared for from near and far by family, excellent neighbors, and great friends from the Lockheed days. The only thing that could interrupt his storytelling was when he would talk about how kind everyone was being to him. Al is preceded in death by his beloved wife Valerie, by his brother, Keith, and sister, Wilma. He is survived by his sister Lucille, his younger brother Jerry, and by his three children and their families, including three grand-children and two greatgrand-children. Although Al is already sorely missed, it is a comfort to all of us who love them to know that Al & Val are a team again.