Jeanette Albany, 59, office manager for Communication & Journalism, died on Thursday, Jan. 1. Services are set for Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 9:30 a.m. at Holy Ghost Catholic Church, 833 Arizona SE, followed by interment at Sunset Memorial Park, 924 Menaul Blvd. NE.
Albany served the University of New Mexico for more than 36 years, working for Earth Data Analysis Center for 19 years, then Alliance for Transportation Research for 11 years. She retired for one year, then came back to work at Communication & Journalism in 2008.
Nancy Montoya, one of Albany’s coworkers in C&J, said, “She was a really wonderful person, very sweet spirited and hardly ever got angry even when pressure was at its highest. She always said that it just took too much energy to stay mad about anything. Jeanette was one of the most patient people I’ve ever known. If it took 10 times to explain something, then she took the time to do so. Jeanette had a great sense of humor. There wasn’t a day when you didn’t hear a giggle coming from her office when she was interacting with members of the C&J community.”
Montoya added that Albany was very efficient in handling everything from bookkeeping and scheduling to purchasing and human resources duties. She also took on other tasks to aid the department – like designing handouts, brochures and recruitment materials.
“She loved helping to organize our convocation every year – seeing all those graduates, their family and friends. She always tried to make it super special for them,” Montoya said.
Albany volunteered at her church and fed a family every Christmas. She enjoyed traveling with her Mom, whether visiting relatives or making an annual trip to Las Vegas. She was a great cook and tremendous baker. She was a staunch supporter of Lobo basketball and football. She was a regular attendee with her mother until her mother had a hard time navigating the stairs. She enjoyed Isotopes baseball and televised sports.
A life long resident of Albuquerque, Albany is survived by her mother, Frances Albany; sister, Maggie Chavez and husband, David; nieces, Suzanne Palmer and husband, Jeff; Adrienne Chavez and Stefan Neumann, and Jessica Chavez; great nieces, Alyssa and Katie Palmer, and Madi Oyer; and numerous other relatives and friends. Albany was preceded in death by her father Walter Albany.
She was born in 1955 in Gunnison, Colo., and moved to Albuquerque with her family in 1959. She graduated from Highland High School, Class of 1973. She loved her nieces and great-nieces and family was very important to her. Albany also loved her dogs, especially Murphy.