Doris M. Albrecht

Doris Albrecht, age 92 of Burnsville, MN was called to her heavenly home on December 8, 2023, at the Minnesota Masonic Home, the same place where she had worked for twenty-three and a half years.

Doris Mae Albrecht, the second-born child of Richard and Frieda (Happel) Schmidt, entered this world on December 14, 1930, near Tripoli, Iowa. She was baptized as a child of God on January 1, 1931, and she confirmed her faith at St John’s Lutheran Church, Fairbank, Iowa on April 18, 1943. She graduated from Dunkerton High School, Dunkerton, Iowa on May 25, 1949. After graduation, she attended Allen Memorial Hospital Lutheran School of Nursing in Waterloo, Iowa, and graduated on September 5, 1952. She worked at Allen Memorial Hospital for one year after graduation.

On August 29, 1953, she married Vincent Albrecht and moved to Ames, Iowa where he was a student of Engineering at Iowa State College. While in Ames, Doris worked at Mary Greeley Hospital for three years. Vince graduated from Iowa State College on June 9, 1956. After his graduation, Vince and Doris moved to Bloomington, MN for Vince’s first job at Sperry Univac. Their first child, David, was born during this time. As a result of a downtime at Sperry Univac, the family moved to Denver, Colorado where Vince was employed by Martin Company until hearing from a friend that Sperry Univac was doing well and hiring again. Vince secured employment with Sperry Univac again and the family moved back to the Twin Cities.

Their daughter, Denise was born during this time. They purchased a house in Burnsville, MN. It remained home for Doris for 61 years. Their third child, Jean, was born very soon after they moved to their house in Burnsville. Their family was now complete. After the children were all in school, Doris resumed her career as an RN at the Masonic Home Care Center in Bloomington, MN. She worked there until her retirement in 1993. She and Vince conveyed to their children the importance of the Christian faith and its nourishment through regular attendance at church, the regular reading of God’s word, and prayer before meals and bedtime. It was like breathing. You just did it automatically without thinking about it.

Doris was welcoming and very thoughtful of others feelings. As was shown by her love of providing delicious meals for people which included family, friends, and anyone who came through her door. She was a very attentive and gracious hostess. She had the gift of hospitality. She was very sociable. She enjoyed spending time with people, as illustrated by her attendance in a bridge group with her former Bloomington neighbors, a women’s bible study group with her church family, for which she hosted the December Christmas gatherings for many years, and involvement in the church choir for many years. She and Vince hosted the summer choir picnics numerous times. Most included a rousing game of Volleyball in the backyard, with their beautiful terraced perennial garden as a backdrop. She was also in a “Red Hats'' women’s group, many of whom were from her own church family. She enjoyed spending time with the friends she met from her many years working at the Masonic Home. She organized a group of former fellow employees to meet once a month at the Buzz, a coffee shop in Burnsville. She put her nursing skills to work in her social life as well. In her many conversations with friends over the phone, she would take notes on what was going on with their health so she always had questions to ask them about themselves or their significant others next time they visited with each other over the phone.

She had an interest in history in the form of antiques and family heirlooms. She made them come alive in her use of them at home. She was a savvy shopper and could get high-quality, name-brand items for very reasonable prices. The gifts she gave to people reflected this quality and her love of people and making them happy.

She loved tradition and family traditions in particular. She made Christmas Eve and Easter wonderful for our family year after year. They will never be quite the same without those homemade cookies. She always remembered birthdays and anniversaries. She took a cake decorating class in 1962, so the birthday cakes became masterpieces. She enjoyed sewing, quilting, canning peaches and tomatoes, picking strawberries from their garden, baking bread and other goodies with their garden-grown rhubarb or apples from their own apple trees.

Doris fell asleep in the Lord on December 8th, 2023 at the Minnesota Masonic Home, the same place where she had worked for twenty-six years. She was preceded in death by parents, Richard and Frieda Schmidt; older sister, Leona (Henry) Standridge; husband, Vincent; father and mother-in-law, Herman and Dorthea Albrecht; sister-in-law, Linda Schmidt; and other loved ones. Doris is survived by son, David (Carol) Albrecht; daughters, Denise Albrecht and Jean (Brian) Galligan; grandchildren, Douglas (Kayla) Albrecht, Gregory Albrecht, Marie JinLian Galligan, and Carrie Galligan; great-grandchild, Isaac Albrecht; brother, Norman Schmidt; nieces, and many other relatives and friends.

Doris’ family thanks all who supported her with personal care, visits, cards, and kindness during her days at the Masonic Home in Bloomington. Thank you also to Brighton Hospice and especially the staff at the Masonic Home.