Florence and Phil Alberts are pictured at their home in Mountain Ranch on August 18. Florence celebrated her 90th birthday that day with over 100 friends and family. Phil turned 90 last year. Lance Armstrong/Calaveras Enterprise
Florence Alberts, longtime Mountain Ranch resident, celebrated her 90th birthday on Saturday, August 17, with over 100 friends and family, some of whom traveled from out of state to attend the event.
Their big party was held at the Mountain Ranch community hall and included food, music and speeches.
Florence, born on August 15, 1934 in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, is the wife of Phil Alberts, who appeared in the series “Enterprise” last March in his role as the unofficial mayor of Mountain Ranch.
Phil earned this title through activities such as promoting local events, preserving historic buildings, working to build the community park, assisting in the restoration of a cemetery, and his ongoing involvement in the community. He also met many people through his real estate office, which he operated for many years in this town, which had a population of 223 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Long before Phil met Florence, she and her family moved to Northern California at the age of 4.
In addition to her mother and father, Harry and Alice (Percell) Rilea, who married in North Dakota in 1911, Florence had five brothers.
Her father and two oldest brothers found work with the Northern Pacific Railway in Lassen County.
Florence recalled that her mother was 40 years old when she was born and that she grew up in the Greenville community in Plumas County.
She remembered her membership in the Indian Valley 4-H Club and was elected president of that club in 1948. The following year, she chaired the club’s dance committee.
During her freshman and sophomore years at Greenville High School, Florence was a member of the school’s band and choir.
Florence also said that she had a large garden when she was young.
“I sold my produce to the local hospital and one of the grocery stores,” she said. “And the property where I started my garden was a Chinese garden in 1849, and the man sold all his stuff to the miners. And so the Sacramento Bee came along and did a story on me and took a picture and all that.”
In 1949, Florence won an award for her high-quality potatoes, which she offered at the Plumas County Fair. Her fair dishes also included turnips, beets and carrots.
Florence had various hobbies throughout her life, including sewing and cooking.
One of the more adventurous times in Florence’s life was climbing the 10,500-foot-high Mount Lassen in Shasta County.
To make the climb even more adventurous, Florence mentioned that she was pregnant when she successfully climbed to the top of this lava dome mountain, whose last eruption occurred more than a century ago.
Another fond memory for Florence is her wedding to Phil, whom she met in Fairfield. They married on March 10, 1958 in Reno.
Looking back on her previous marriage, Florence said she “stupidly got married” when she was a sophomore in high school.
“I was married to him for a long time,” she said. “I have four children (with him).”
When Phil and Florence married, he had one child of his own, and later the two had two more children together.
Florence and Phil moved from Concord to Mountain Ranch in 1965 after purchasing 12 acres of land from Clorinda Domenghini that included a grocery store, three houses, five cabins, an abandoned stone building, old barns and sheds, tractors, furniture, antiques, a 1942 2 ½ ton truck, and a 1952 Chevy pickup truck.
Barden Stevenot was the Alberts’ real estate agent and Domenghini was in charge of the sale.
The Alberts discovered Mountain Ranch through a real estate ad in the Oakland Tribune.
Eventually, Florence worked for a while in the grocery store, which is no longer in operation.
Although Florence wasn’t thrilled about the idea of moving to Mountain Ranch, she grew to love the town, she noted.
“Mountain Ranch is a beautiful place,” she said. “I love it. I love the people. It was a good place to raise a family and it’s a good place to grow old.”
When asked to share her thoughts on her 90th birthday, Florence said that the day had “pros and cons”.
“I never really thought about age,” she said. “I think you are as old as you feel, and some days I feel like I’m 95 or 100, and some days I feel like I’m 60.”
Although Florence is physically limited, she manages to stay active by working in and out of home and riding her electric scooter to Sender’s Market and Mountain Ranch Lutheran Church.
Florence mentioned that this is her 19th year of volunteering at the Mark Twain Medical Center in San Andreas.
“I work in what we call the workshop,” she said. “We make things that we sell. Years ago, when we had a gift shop, I worked there and visited the patients every day and made sure they were OK. But since I can’t walk well and don’t have a very good immune system, my doctor said I shouldn’t do that anymore. So I just work in the workshop.”
Returning to the topic of her 90th birthday party, Florence mentioned that the planning for this gathering originally took a different approach, as her party was intended to be a family gathering on the patio in front of her house.
“I think I suggested inviting too many people, so we moved it to the church hall,” she said. “We sent out 100 invitations and I thought, ‘Well, we’ll probably have between 70 and 80 people because you never get all the invitations back.’ And so it just kept getting bigger.”
Because she was planning a much larger party, Phil hired a party organizer for the event, which included many members of her family.
Florence mentioned that she has 11 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
Among Florence’s family members who attended her recent party was her son Stewart, who told this newspaper that his grandmother had always been a hard worker.
“She worked hard all her life and did different things (including being a waitress),” he said. “One thing I remember about her (around 1970) is that she saved her tips for a long time and took all of us kids to Disneyland. I think I was about 10 years old.”
Florence’s grandson, Gino Alberts, also spoke to the Enterprise and noted that he was grateful to his grandmother.
“It’s just wonderful that she was with us for so long,” he said. “She was just a wonderful grandmother and supporter to me and my family.”
He added that Florence’s party was a success and a great way to celebrate her milestone birthday.
“Everything went well and many good family and friends were there to support her on her 90th birthday,” said Gino.
