Bedford Township: Unseated commissioner not ready to slow down

Pearl Albert-Green

TEMPERANCE - To those foolhardy enough to believe that a simple thing like losing an election would slow down Pearl Albert-Green, think again.

And don't be surprised if the name of Bedford Township's own "Iron Lady" is one day back on a local ballot.

"I plan on living to 120 and to be in good health," said the longtime township supervisor and recently unseated county commissioner. "Who knows what might happen in the future?"

Mrs. Albert-Green, a lifelong Republican now in her mid-70s, was defeated in November by Democrat Jim Goebel, who took office this week. The defeat, while disappointing to her, has freed her up for some other tasks, including her recent re-appointment by current Bedford Township Supervisor Walt Wilburn to the South County Water Board, an entity that she had once helped create.

Mrs. Albert-Green began her political career in 1966 when she was elected township clerk. She remained clerk until 1980 when she resigned to become an office manager and controller at a Toledo tool & die company, where she worked for three years.

She then worked as a judicial secretary to former Monroe County Probate Judge Jim Seitz until she was elected Bedford Township Supervisor in 1984, a position she held until 1996, when she lost a primary election to LaMar Frederick.

Even that loss didn't dampen her enthusiasm for helping to make Bedford Township a better place. Mrs. Albert-Green was appointed to the township's Parks & Recreation Commission and was elected to a term on that board before mounting a successful bid for county commissioner in 2002.

All the while, she's continued to work on other advisory boards and commissions seeking to improve the township, like its Economic Development Commission and the Monroe County Planning Commission.

"I have a lot of other things I have to do. I'm still on the [Bedford Township] Economic Development Commission. We're working on the revitalization of downtown Temperance. [Mr. Wilburn] has asked me to continue working with Erie Township on development of a Bedford-Erie Industrial Park," Mrs. Albert-Green explained.

With all of her township-based activity and decades involved in local government, the one-term commissioner said her two years on the county board were both interesting and enlightening.

"It's very different than being on a local board. There's a little more partisan politics involved," Mrs. Albert-Green explained. But she said she had an advantage over those who find themselves as county commissioners without having served in another local elected office.

"I went there knowing what a county commissioner was allowed to do and not allowed to do. I didn't expect to change the world. I wanted to bring some stabilizing ideas to the board, and I think we did get along," she said.

Over her long career, both within political circles and without, Mrs. Albert-Green said she has just one regret.

"My only regret is that I didn't keep a journal," she said. Instead, she'll have to rely on her memory, government paperwork and news articles to recall all the things she's accomplished over nearly four decades in office.