Pearl Albert-Green [1927-2013 ]; Bedford Twp. official served nearly 5 decades

9/30/2013

TEMPERANCE — Pearl Albert-Green, a former clerk and supervisor in Bedford Township, died Saturday in Mercy St. Anne Hospital. She was 85.

Mrs. Albert-Green, who was a patient in the hospital for about two weeks, died of complications from a blood infection, her daughter, Martha Quiroga, said.

Her political career in township and county government covered nearly five decades. She was still on the South County Water District board and had attended the organization's monthly meeting in August.

Mrs. Albert-Green helped in the formation of the board in the late 1960s and negotiated a contract with the city of Toledo for water services that kept rates unchanged for township residents for 40 years.

“She was a good leader. She was like a walking encyclopedia to most of us who served on the township board. She was very instrumental in bringing water and sewer services into the township,” Walt Wilburn, a former township supervisor, said.

A Republican, she was elected township clerk in 1966 and won re-election to the post six times.

As clerk, she was project director during the development of the Bedford Industrial Park, securing state and federal grants for construction of its infrastructure.

She oversaw construction projects, including the Ivor Lindsey Senior Housing Complex, an addition to the township Senior Citizens Center, and the Bedford Branch Library that opened in 1974. She also served as the township community development director.

She resigned from the office in 1980 to take the position of financial controller for Glass City Tool & Die Co. in Toledo. She left the company to work as a judicial secretary in the juvenile division of the Monroe County Probate Court.

After a four-year absence from public office, she returned to the political arena in 1984 and was elected township supervisor.

Township voters re-elected her five times to the office.

Under her tenure, the township’s population grew to nearly 24,000 as housing developments were built and industry flourished. The Downtown Development Authority was created under her terms as supervisor, leading to improvements at Secor and Sterns Road for future retail and commercial development.

The community park is named Pearl Albert-Green Park.

Former township Treasurer Sherry Meyer was elected to office the same year Mrs. Albert-Green became supervisor.

“She was a leader. She knew how to get things done. She was just a real kind person. A classy person. Everybody she touched just liked her,” Mrs. Meyer said.

Mrs. Albert-Green stepped down as supervisor in 1996 after she lost in the Republican primary election by 90 votes to R. LaMar Frederick, who went on to win in the general election.

In 2004, she was elected to the District 8 seat on the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. She lost her bid for re-election two years later.

The former Pearl Young was born on Dec. 1, 1927, in Detroit. She moved with her family to Columbus and later to the Trilby area in West Toledo. She graduated in 1945 from Whitmer High School.

Mrs. Albert-Green married John Albert in 1945. They moved to Bedford Township in 1959 with their three children.

The couple divorced in 1971. She married Joseph Green in 1993. He died in 1995.

Mrs. Quiroga said her mother was encouraged by the local leader in the township Republican Party to get involved in politics. She said she took the party official’s advice and ran for clerk.

Mrs. Albert-Green served on the township’s park commission. Among her accomplishments on the board was the creation of skate boarding area at Parmalee Park.

Prior to getting elected clerk, she was a secretary and bookkeeper for an advertising promotion firm in Bedford Township and for Willys-Overland Motors Inc.

Mrs. Albert-Green was a past charter president of the Monroe County Municipal and Township Clerks Association and past co-chairman of the Michigan Week program in Monroe County.

She also took an active role in her local party activities.

She served as vice chairman of the Bedford Republican organization and secretary of the Monroe County Republican executive committee. She also held positions in the state and 2nd. Congressional District Party committees.

Mr. Wilburn said Mrs. Albert-Green encouraged him to become active in the local Republican Party in the late 1970s when he moved into the township.

He said he became very close with her and thought of her as his second mother.

“She was an icon to a lot of us. She treated everybody so good,” Mr. Wilburn said. “She loved Bedford Township.”

Surviving are her son Eric Albert; daughters Martha Quiroga and Elizabeth Couch; stepson Joseph Green, Jr.; brother Alvin Young, Jr.; sister Dorothy Grifka; 10 grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2-9 p.m Oct. 11 at the Michael W. Pawlak Funeral Home, 1640 Smith Rd., Temperance.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Oct. 12 in St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Temperance. The family suggests tributes to the church.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.