maly, too: The Apple Lady

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The Apple Lady

I was sorry to learn of the death of 75-year-old Nadine Albrecht of Cedar Rapids.

Nadine and her late husband, Chuck, were longtime friends of ours who owned and managed a huge apple orchard on Ashworth Road in West Des Moines for many years.

There were also a couple of cherry trees at the place, and I can recall picking apples and cherries a time or two.

As far as I know, I haven't picked apples or cherries since.

Nadine and Chuck lived on the property, and it was the site of many Fourth of July picnics, wild-game dinners, Sunday afternoons when Chuck spent a half-hour chasing a greased hog, and who-knows-what-else.

Chuck raised honeybees, had a couple of antique sports cars he said he planned to restore, had some old gas pumps he said he planned to do something with, and both he and Nadine always had a smile and a hug whenever someone stopped by.

Fun-loving folks, that's what Chuck and Nadine Albrecht were.

Nadine Albrecht

Here's a copy of what I wrote on the cremation.com website where Nadine's obituary appears:

Ron and Maxine Maly were very saddened when they learned of Nadine's death. We were longtime friends of Nadine and Chuck in their "Apple Orchard" days in West Des Moines. We picked plenty of apples and cherries at that wonderful place on Ashworth Road, and we enjoyed the company of Nadine and Chuck at July 4 celebrations, fall picnics, spring picnics, summer picnics and even winter picnics. Heck, every day was a picnic with Nadine and Chuck. Our best to Scott, Todd, Troy and their families. We share in your sorrow.

Scott, Todd and Troy are the Albrechts' sons. Nadine spent her final years in Cedar Rapids, probably because Troy is in business in nearby Marion.

It was a shock to me, and presumably to many others who knew Nadine and Chuck when they divorced several years ago.

Chuck moved to Omaha, then back to West Des Moines, where he died a couple of years ago.

We last time we saw Nadine was in Cedar Rapids. We were there to visit my sister-in-law, and I picked up Nadine at her apartment on the southeast side for a lunch the women had planned.

The best part of that day, as well as the days that followed, was that Miquie, my sister-in-law, talked Nadine into going to church a couple of times in Cedar Rapids.

Nadine had no car, so Miquie picked her up and drove her to church and drove her back home.

It was Miquie who called last night to say she saw Nadine's obituary in the Gazette.

The last time we saw Chuck was when he stopped by our home to have me sign a copy of my second [of three] Tales from the Iowa Sidelines books that he had purchased.

We drank a lot of coffee that night, re-living the old days.

We miss Nadine and Chuck, and we're going to make every effort to get to Nadine's celebration of life Saturday at The Tavern II in West Des Moines.

That's the kind of place Nadine and Chuck liked.

Following is a copy of the obituary that appeared at iowacremation.com and in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

As far as I know, the obituary hasn't appeared in the paper here yet, hopefully not just because of the shockingly-high prices the paper charges families for obits these days.

I guess the paper's management figures the product is so lousy now that it can't make any money from subscriptions, so it makes subscribers [and non-subscribers] pay an arm and a leg to print an obit.

NADINE ALBRECHT

Cedar Rapids

Nadine Erliss Rauhauser Albrecht, 75, passed away suddenly in Cedar Rapids on Feb. 19, 2014. A Celebration of Life will be Saturday, March 1, from 2 to 5 p.m. at The Tavern II Pizza and Pasta Grill, 1755 50th St., West Des Moines.

Nadine was born June 19, 1938, in Faribault, Minn. She worked at Iowa Realty in Panora, Iowa. Friends may remember Nadine as "The Apple Lady" of Valley Orchard on Ashworth Road in West Des Moines.

Nadine was preceded in death by Charles Albrecht.

She is survived by three children, Scott (Wendy), Todd (Lori) and Troy (Geri) Albrecht; grandchildren, Dylan, Keanan, Braeden, Delaney, Jonah and Hollis; and siblings, Naomi John- son and William Rauhauser.

A lifelong Democrat, Nadine enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, painting, and was often seen with a glass of wine, enjoying social gatherings.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association (diabetes.org/donate).

Please leave a message or tribute to Nadine's family on the web page, www. iowacremation.com under Obituaries.

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.