Bill Albin, age 85, passed away on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at his home in Clinton, Missouri.
William Roy “Bill” Albin was born on July 17, 1939, to Lyle Jennings Albin and Rosa Cleo (Vick) Albin. He attended several schools while growing up: Norris School 1st grade through part of 6th grade; Calhoun School rest of 6th grade and 7th grade; Shawnee Mound for 8th grade; and grades 9-12 at Clinton. While at Clinton, he played basketball his freshman year and was a founding member of the Straight Aways Car Club. He was selected Mr. CHS 1957.
It made him so proud that his family followed in his footsteps being selected as Senior Favorites. His brother, Bob, was selected Mr. CHS the year after him; and in 2006, his grandson, Andrew, was Mr. CHS. His sister, Rose Ann (Albin) Musser and his daughter, Robin, were selected Best Dancers for their respective classes. His daughter, Sherri, was selected Most Athletic in her class; and his daughter-in-law, Kelly Briggs, was Most Athletic in her class.
He was exceptionally proud to be a Clinton Cardinal. He was on the reunion committee for his class and loved to plan for their class reunions. He was always so excited when it was time to start planning so he could get together with his classmates.
Bill served in the National Guard, traveling yearly to Minnesota for maneuvers
Bill met the love of his life at Walker Motor Company in 1962. He had recently purchased a new car, a 1962 Ford, and went to the dealership to make his monthly payment. The girl working the front desk taking payments had long, blonde hair and he fell in love at first sight. He would drive by the dealership, just to try to see Eileen. He asked her out on a date. On Valentine’s Day 1963, he proposed and they were married on April 12, 1963. To this union, two daughters were born, Robin Eileen (Albin) Wells and Sherri Linn Albin.
Bill had several jobs: he sold cars, he worked at a lumber yard, he worked at M & M BookStore repairing adding machines, he worked at A & P grocery store, he sold insurance door-to-door, he worked at Hooten Home Improvement Company, and he and his dad worked at Stewart-Nattinger. Then he began his career at Kansas City Power & Light where he was a mechanic for 30 years.
While working at KCP&L, Bill played ping pong every day. He was a founding member of a ping pong club in Clinton. He also played in the Senior Citizen Olympics, placing 4th in the Nation, which he was extremely proud of.
Once Eileen retired, they bought a new truck and RV and started traveling the United States. They traded up a couple of times, each time getting a bigger truck and RV. They loved meeting new friends while traveling and playing lots of board games. They had a circle of friends that met yearly in Texas for the winter.
When they decided to retire from RV’ing, Bill became an avid biker. He kept track of every mile he and Eileen rode on their bicycles. Bill rode the Katy Trail from Clinton to St. Louis two times, the last time being in August 2011. In 2019, he gave Robin the following statistics; he rode 10,000 miles on his bicycle he had at that time and he had ridden 500 miles on previous bicycles. Eileen rode 3,000 total miles on her two bicycles.
Bill loved to read. He had library cards from several libraries as well as reading online books. He preferred to read an actual book that he could hold. He had several notebooks full of the lists of books he had read. He also loved to play games on his iPad and complete Sudoku games. In the winter, he loved to put puzzles together and then frame them.
Along with all of his hobbies, he was an exceptional woodworker. It is impossible to count how many pieces of furniture, wooden games, knick knacks, etc he made for his family members and members of the community. If you saw a piece of furniture in a store, in a catalog (when those were a thing), or online, he would take out his tape measure and draw up plans. He has books full of his drawings and plans for just about everything he made. People in the community became aware of his skills and would call him and bring over broken furniture and antiques for him to repair. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix or create.
He also could sew and he made ping pong paddle covers and car seats. He even helped Robin with Halloween costumes and costumes for her annual Piccadilly events.
Bill designed and built The Albin Wagon with the help of his daughter, Sherri. It took them 2 years to build it, starting with his niece’s VW bug and cutting it apart and manufacturing the car body from metal. He carefully created the “Flying A” hood ornament for The Albin Wagon. He would sit and watch TV while polishing the hood ornament. Once the car was finished, he had t-shirts and jackets made for the family and then he and Eileen would drive around the surrounding communities entering it into parades and car shows.
His daughters will remember him always saying he was 100% whenever asked how he was feeling. He was a perfect dad; a wonderful husband to Eileen; a loving grandpa and Dadoo; he had lots of friends from high school and work; and he loved to joke. He was so proud of the fact that all of Eileen’s siblings and his brother, Bob and wife Karen, were all married for 50+ years, with no divorces.
Bill is survived by his wife of 61 years, Eileen; his daughter, Robin, and her husband Richard Wells; his daughter, Sherri Albin; his grandsons, Andrew Wells and wife, Tia; Justin and wife, Jillian; Garrison and his girlfriend, Courtney; his great-grandsons, Cooper and Carter Wells; and his great-granddaughter, Nora Wells. He is also survived by his brother, Robert “Bob” Albin and wife, Karen; and his sister, Rose Ann (Albin) Musser. He is also survived by several nieces, nephews and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his daughter-in-law, Kelly Briggs.
Memorial services were held February 16, 2025 at the Vansant-Mills Chapel, Clinton with Glenna Henry officiating. Special music included “All I Have To Do Is Dream, I’m Already There, How Can I Help You Say Goodbye, In the Mood, I Can Only Imagine and Crazy.” The honorary casket bearers were Richard Wells, Andrew Wells, Justin Wells, Garrison Wells, Cooper Wells, Carter Wells and Nora Wells.
Services were under the direction of Vansant-Mills Funeral Home of Clinton, MO.
