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Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

When I first met Albert Lean John Smith in 2015, I remember being taken back by the successes he had seen in his life.

The then 83-year-old man had moved to Albert Lea with his wife, Elaine, from Denver the year before. After decades of community leadership in their previous community, he would go on to impact the lives of many here in the years afterward, sharing the story of his life and educating about what is known as Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery and which became a federal holiday in 2021.

Smith, an African-American by heritage, illustrated the power of education, showing how his father taught him to make lemonade out of the lemons that so often the world gave him at that time in history.

Smith shared that his great-grandfather was sold into slavery in Tennessee and ultimately taken to Texas. When he was freed in 1866, he purchased 1,000 acres of land, with money he had been allowed to save, and later built a cabin, got married and had seven children.

One of those children, Smith’s grandfather, started a school in 1892 for African-Americans. He also purchased 450 acres of land and got started in volunteer work.

The tradition continued with Smith’s father, who was also an educator, and who worked until the age of 72 in the profession. Every one of his six children, including Smith, went to college.

Smith said as a young child he remembers his father taking him to the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas, and then taking him to the Capitol in Austin, Texas. His father asked him which he would choose, and from that point on, he knew what direction his life would take.

Smith, too, went on to work for 35 years in the education field, serving as a teacher and administrator until he retired in 1990. After his retirement, he also served a time as real estate broker associate, was on various boards and worked to get schools in the Denver area named for women of color.

I was impressed with all that Smith had accomplished, particularly in a time when not all people were celebrated and accepted the way they are today.

In 1969, a year after the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriages, Smith and his wife married. Elaine was from rural Albert Lea, and at the time they were married, there was only one other African-American man living in the community. Even when they moved to Albert Lea in 2014, the diversity had not yet grown to where it is today.

Smith started his Juneteenth celebrations in Albert Lea first in the Village Cooperative, where he and his wife lived. In the years since, others have also been at United Methodist Church and at the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center.

I hope he and his family know what a special man he has been to so many.

Though not in a formal role, he continued to educate many of us to the end, not only in the heritage of his ancestors but also in overcoming obstacles in life.

I’m glad to have met the Smiths in 2015 and to have interacted with them in the years since. The world has been a better place with him in it, and I’m grateful I had the chance to get to know him.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Wednesday.