Voorheesville’s oldest school employee reminisces on work ethic

NEW SCOTLAND — Growing up in an Albany orphanage, 15-year-old Joseph Albright started his own business in 1941.

With permission from caretakers, Albright cleared out an unused storage shed at the home and began raising chickens, selling the eggs for 25 cents a dozen in the city streets.

“With the money, I was the only boy in the home at 15 buying his own clothes,” recalled Albright.

“We had a lot of boys who were very athletic; they played sports in school. I was not that type. I was an entrepreneur,” he said.

Reflecting on his childhood and how it shaped his life, Albright said, “I remember going hungry, I will never go hungry again.”

Now, at the age of 87, Albright is the oldest employee of the Voorheesville School District.

Albright’s general life advice: “Keep very busy and maintain a good sense of humor.”

More New Scotland News

  • In a Dec. 30 letter to Judge Paul Evangelista, the Voorheesville attorney in the case wrote, “As neither an answer nor motion for summary judgment has been filed in response to” Voorheesville’s counterclaims against Norfolk Southern or its third-party suit against JC Pops, the village “is entitled to voluntarily dismiss its claims .…”

  • During the Jan. 5 meeting of Voorheesville’s board of education, Superintendent Frank Macri first offered praise for the job the district’s transportation department had done over the past year, but added, “Like many school districts across the region, across the state, across the country, we have struggled with staffing with our bus drivers and getting bus drivers staffing.”

  • The money will be used for the first phases of renovation, including asbestos abatement, removing non-original building additions, and stabilizing the structure, which was determined to have “good bones.”

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