Obituary of Albert Borucki

Albert Borucki Albert was born June 15th 1926. He was the second son of parents born in Poland. In his early years, he attended Saint Stanislaus School which was the Polish school in Chelsea. He spoke of being a bit of a daredevil when he was a kid, when along with his friends, they would run along the rooftops and jump from roof to roof. In the early 1940’s, he became a welder and worked in the ship yard. Even with the protection offered, however, he feared for the safety of his eyes and left that position. He entered the Army and served in the tank division, stationed in various places throughout Europe. At the end of the war, he left the service and returned to Chelsea. There, he met Beatrice DeWolf, the daughter of French Canadian parents. He told her his name was Aloysius and she felt badly for him. He called her “Bashful”. Despite her inherent shyness, their romance flourished and they were married on July 9, 1950. They settled into an apartment in Chelsea where, as newlyweds, the faced the decision as to whether to buy a couch or a television set. The TV set won! Children soon followed. Ultimately there were five spread over almost 21 years of their marriage. Linda was followed by Albert, Robert, Kenneth, and Scott. Albert worked for a number of years at American Biltrite in Chelsea where he manufactured soles for shoes. In the late 1960s, he was accepted into an apprentice program at what was then the American Shoe Machinery company in Beverly. There, he learned to be a machinist – a trade he practiced until his retirement. He purchased his first and only house in Peabody in 1965. He lived there for the rest of his life – a total of 43 years. Albert loved to play games. He and Beatrice would often sit at the kitchen table playing cribbage. He often played card games and board games with his children. His competitive nature, however, sometimes made the process a bit frustrating for his children as he was never one to let any one of them win simply because they were younger than he was! There were any number of things that were of interest to him. At one point he decided to take up photography. Once he assembled all the equipment he needed – from enlargers to chemical trays, he would ensconce himself in a makeshift darkroom which, unfortunately for other family members was the family’s only bathroom! At another time, he decided to take up fishing. He bought a used boat motor which worked very well in a barrel on the back porch. Each and every time it was placed on the back of a rented boat for a trip down the river to a fishing hole, it would invariably fail and no amount of coaxing would bring it to life. Albert and Beatrice would then be forced to row their way back to the boat rental site! Needless to say, fishing did not become a lifelong passion! Perhaps his longest lasting passion was for gardening – particularly for growing fruit and vegetables. Each year, he looked forward to his homegrown blueberries, pumpkins, tomatoes, peaches and whatever else he happened to be growing. He then enjoyed making (and eating) blueberry pies, pumpkin pies or whatever other goodies he could make from his produce! When he and Beatrice celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2000, he was treated to a stretch limo ride to bring him and Beatrice to the restaurant where a surprise party was held. The limo ride was probably his favorite part of the evening! He had never before ridden in a limo and suspected he never would. He beamed the entire night! Although he could be quite cantankerous, he also had a very gentle side and loved to cuddle one of his own babies or grandbabies. Although he did not easily share his feelings, he did love each of his children and grandchildren and he will be missed by each one them