With sadness we learned today that our Uncle Alby passed away.

I wrote previously about a recent adventure he had undertaken at age 74, riding a bicycle from London to Liverpool in England.

We came to meet my uncle late in life while we were living in Seattle; he contacted us on a visit to the USA. He was staying with friends in Spokane Washington so we loaded the kids into the car and drove to Spokane to meet him for the first time.

The Saturday visit was a delight. Our children and Uncle Alby quickly became friends. His sense of humor and caring, turned “family-strangers” into “family-friends”. We enjoyed our short time together, a brief lunch and a walk around down town Spokane and headed back to Seattle. 

True to the adventurer he was he had used Spokane as a base to explore the Montana/Idaho area with a map and a rental car he travelled the area alone, sleeping in the car when he needed to and hiking any area that looked interesting to him. Ignoring the comforts of life, he travelled content with a frequent cup of tea, a pillow and blanket to use when sleeping in the car. He even ventured alone into areas where bears had been sighted.

Uncle Alby had remained in England his birthplace, while his brother, our father, left England to establish a better life in Southern Rhodesia which is modern day Zimbabwe. As a result we grew up not knowing my father’s family. So it was a great delight to meet Uncle Alby in part because he was so much like our beloved Dad who had already passed away. He was like Dad in so many ways; short in stature, humorous, easy to speak to and knowledgeable about so many things.

We were thrilled to receive a letter from him a month ago and sadly our reply to him is sitting in an envelope waiting to be mailed.

We hope that his family will share more stories of his life with us so that we can help preserve the great legacy he has left our family.

Thank you Uncle Alby for being the man you were. Enjoy the reunion with Dad – I am sure you have much to talk about. God bless you until we meet again. Neville and Barbie