Hiram Gay Albee 1886-1975

ALBEE

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 8/12/2011 at 23:41:00

Hiram G. Albee
Estherville – Funeral services for Hiram G. Albee, 88, Estherville, will be 2 p.m. Friday at the Henry Funeral Chapel with the Rev. G. O. St. Lawrence officiating and burial at East Side Cemetery with military services at the graveside.

Mr. Albee passed away Tuesday [March 11, 1975] evening at Holy Family Hospital. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, March 12, 1975)

Bachelor Leaves $500,000 for scholarships, museum (by Alan Koonse)
An 88-year-old Estherville bachelor who died Mar. 11 has left most of his estate – abut $500,000 – for an Estherville scholarship fund and for the acquisition of a historical museum to be named in his honor.

Hiram G. Albee, who was a self-employed carpenter, made a cash bequest in his will of $100,000 to the Emmet County Historical Society at Estherville “for the purpose of acquisition of a historical museum, which should be known as the H. G. Albee Memorial Museum.”

Trust Fund
Mr. Albee stipulated in his will that $400,000 go to the Iowa Lakes Community College Foundation at Estherville to be placed in an academic scholarship trust fund, known as the “H. G. Albee Scholarships.”

Ivadell Ross, treasurer of the historical society, said Thursday, “We are elated.” She said Mr. Albee was a lifelong member of the historical society and had made several cash contributions to the society in the past few years.

Robert Lee, a spokesman for the Iowa Lakes Community College at Estherville, said, “It was a wonderful thing for this man to do for his community.”

No Immediate Survivors
Max Pelzer, attorney for the executor – the Iowa Trust and Savings Bank at Estherville – said Thursday that Mr. Albee has no immediate survivors but is survived by nine nieces and nephews who will receive a portion of the estate.

“I knew him for many years,” Pelzer said. “What was fun for him was making a dollar and keeping it. He was a very frugal man.”

Pelzer said that Mr. Albee had owned farmland and several rental properties in the Estherville area. “He bought old houses and fixed them up and then sold them,” Pelzer said. (Des Moines Register, Des Moines, IA, March 21, 1975)

Note: per WWI Draft Registration, dob is Oct. 6, 1886; per 1900 census, dob is Nov. 1886