Janet Albanese: Nurse kept others foremost until her death came at 65

She never had a harsh word to say about anyone, family and friends say. Nor did she complain when her nursing duties and Air Force career sometimes chipped away at her own dreams and rattled her psyche.

She simply and quietly dedicated her life to serving others.

The retired chief master sergeant even downplayed the seriousness of her illness, until days before she succumbed to cancer Jan. 18 at age 65.

"She was sick for a long time, and she never told us," said her sister, Georgeann Clemens. "She didn't want us to worry."

"She was a very well-rounded person. She loved life," said Albanese's friend, Kim Wynn. The women met at the American Legion's Morgan McDermott Post 7 Downtown, which Albanese joined in 1985.

Albanese, the eldest of six siblings, was raised by her grandmother in Pennsylvania.

"After graduation from high school, Janet wanted to attend nursing school in Philadelphia but refused to leave her elderly grandmother," who was in failing health, Clemens said.

After her grandmother died, Albanese finally returned to school. Her first nursing job was at a children's hospital in Philadelphia in 1961.

"She was devastated by that," Clemens said. "Sick kids just broke her heart."

Within five years, she gave up civilian nursing to join the Air Force, following the lead of her seven uncles, all veterans of World War II service.

Noreen Arao met Albanese almost 40 years ago, when both were medics at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

"She was quiet. She wasn't someone to be riled up. She was very calm," Arao said.

But Albanese also liked to have a good time and enjoyed trying new things, she said.

"Jan liked to experiment with different types of foods and cultures. She liked to learn more about different nationalities," Arao said. "We experimented with all kinds of food. She loved eating."

Arao and Albanese met again when the women were assigned to posts in Japan.

"She was just so kind," Arao said, "one in a million."

It was Albanese's low-key, easygoing personality that helped her make friends in Tucson. She visited Southern Arizona for the first time in 1971, when she provided medical care in Sells, on what was then the Papago Indian Reservation.

"They loved Jan dearly out there, and they always had a smile and had lovely comments (for) her," Arao said. "She was very patient, and she made patients very comfortable."

"She took care of our people really well," said Willard Thomas, a nurse who worked with Albanese and still lives in Sells. "Everybody enjoyed her company, and she enjoyed the people." Albanese took an active part in burial services when military veterans from the tribe died, Thomas said.

"When she was stationed in Sells, she used to call me and tell me how much she loved it: 'It was so beautiful; the people were so nice,' " Clemens said. "She kept telling me, 'This is where my heart is.' "

At the urging of her family, Albanese moved to New Jersey after finishing her second tour in the Air Force. She stayed a few years, said her sister, but found the pace too hectic. After trying life in Louisiana for a year, she moved to Tucson.

"She returned to Tucson in 1985, telling everyone it would be her last move," Clemens said. "From the time she was stationed there, she always said that's where she wanted to stay for the rest of her life."

Albanese remained active in a reserve unit while working at Tucson's Veterans Administration Medical Center. It came as a surprise, said her sister, when Albanese was reactivated in the early 1990s during Operation Desert Storm and sent to Texas to care for soldiers returning from the Persian Gulf War.

"I think her worst experience was when she got activated for Desert Storm and she went to Texas," her sister said.

"She didn't talk about it, but what she saw coming back to the States (wounded soldiers) was really bad. You could tell, just because she never talked about it, just how bad it was."

Desert Storm didn't sour Albanese on the military, though. She took a leadership role at the McDermott American Legion post, serving as post commander twice and state director of the 20 & 4 Honor Society of Women Legionnaires.

"She was not the demanding person her position could have made her, but rather the type that would talk with you quietly and in an unassuming way and pretty soon you found that you were coming around to her way of thinking or there was a compromise," said Helen Stout, Post 7 secretary for nearly 50 years.

Albanese preferred to work quietly behind the scenes, helping underprivileged children at a local day care center or working in the post kitchen during bingo games or dinners.

"She was the kind of person that wasn't too proud to get into the kitchen and help do up the dishes from a dinner of possibly 100 or 125," Stout said. "She was not a big hoorah-type, but behind the scenes she was a hard worker. She was a kind, gentle soul who was ready to help when needed."

On StarNet: The "Life Stories" series of articles will be kept online at go.azstarnet.com/lifestories

Life Stories

This feature chronicles the lives of recently deceased Tucsonans. Some were well-known across the community. Others had an impact on a smaller sphere of friends, family and acquaintances. Many of these people led interesting — and sometimes extraordinary — lives with little or no fanfare. Now you'll hear their stories.