Gilroy resident Marge Albaugh, who helped found St. Joseph’s
Family Center and served as its director for 18 years, died of an
illness at her home at about midnight this morning. She was 78
years old.
Gilroy residents and advocates for the poor this week recalled former St. Joseph’s Family Center Executive Director Marge Albaugh as a tenacious advocate for South County’s most vulnerable residents.
Albaugh, who helped found St. Joseph’s and served as its director for 18 years, died at 78 of cancer at her home late Tuesday.
Friends say she leaves behind a giant legacy that lives on through the work of St. Joseph’s, which is based in Gilroy and provides various services to needy South County residents. The local nonprofit – a collaboration between businesses, organizations, churches and individuals – provides meals and clothing for the poor as well as shelter for homeless residents.
“Her passing is definitely a loss to this community and to St. Joseph’s,” said David Cox, executive director of St. Joseph’s Family Center.
Albaugh served as executive director of St. Joseph’s from 1982 to 2001 and was at the forefront of founding St. Joseph’s, Cox said.
Albaugh and her husband, John, ran clothing drives and distributed food that they paid for themselves during St. Joseph’s early years. They later turned the nunnery at St. Mary Parish into the organization’s offices, complete with a waiting room and interviewing rooms.
Under her leadership, Marge Albaugh brought the nonprofit out of its “mom and pop stage,” Cox said, growing it from an operation run by the Catholic Ladies Aid Society and fueled largely by the goodwill and donations of the community into a nonprofit with an annual budget of more than $1 million. Thanks to this transformation, it was able to obtain larger grants, provide various services and engage in networking, among other tasks. One of the reasons the organization remains strong today is because of her legacy, Cox said.
“The things she was passionate about continue to be championed,” he said.
Several people recalled Marge Albaugh for her can-do spirit when taking care of the poor.
“Failure was not an option for Marge and ‘No’ was not something that she would accept, and she had a great heart and a great compassion for people in need,” said Barry Del Buono, former executive director of EHC Lifebuilders, which provides services for the homeless in Silicon Valley.
Del Buono used to refer to Marge Albaugh as the “Godmother of Homeless People.”
He recalled one occasion in which Marge Albaugh was notified that a South County family was living under a large oak. Within hours, she was able to find housing for that family, Del Buono said.
In another instance, South County Collaborative board member Dina Campeau recalled how Marge Albaugh had St. Joseph’s take over a winter shelter at the Ochoa Migrant Camp after EHC Lifebuilders decided not to run it anymore. St. Joseph’s ran the shelter up until a couple of years ago.
“Marge said we can’t do without that service here, we’ll take it on,” Campeau said. “St. Joseph’s had no experience doing that, yet they turned it into a very successful three-month program.”
Marge Albaugh would learn about best practices for the homeless that were used in other cities and states, then implement them locally, Del Buono said. She was also able to relate well to volunteers, churches and to the local “movers and shakers,” Del Buono said.
“I believe the legacy she leaves for South County and the rest of Santa Clara County and the state is the ability to create a path of help for people in need in such a manner that everybody wants to participate,” Del Buono said.
Marge Albaugh was named Gilroy’s Woman of the Year in 1986, and John received Man of the Year in 1982.
Although John Albaugh eventually had a successful career, both he and Marge knew about poverty first hand. Marge Albaugh was born in Bakersfield to parents who traveled to California from the Midwest about the time of the Dust Bowl. She married John in the northern California city of McArthur at the age of 16, where she and John’s three children from a previous marriage lived in a tent for some time. The family moved back to Bakersfield, where John launched a successful career in the construction industry.
They then fell on hard times again, and moved to Los Banos, where they lived in a mobile home and ultimately moved into a home there. They only lived in Redwood City a short time before moving to Gilroy in 1974, after John Albaugh partially retired from a construction career, according to their daughter, J. Chris Mickartz.
In addition to the three children from John’s previous marriage and Mickartz, Marge Albaugh biological daughter, the couple adopted two cousins. They also raised foster children, Mickartz said.
“I had the best mom and dad in the world,” Mickartz said this week. “Mom has always been giving, but she’s also very forgiving.”
She said her mother had suffered from illnesses all her life, and she particularly struggled after having open-heart surgery four years ago. Still, her health was stable during the period when she worked at St. Joseph’s, Mickartz said.
“She always attributed that to her work,” Mickartz said. “She said, ‘God’s given me the strength to do it.'”
Cox described Marge Albaugh as spiritual, giving and compassionate. One of the highlights of her life was when she and her husband John got to meet privately with Pope John Paul II while touring the Vatican in 2002, Cox said.
“The Lord used (the Albaughs) in mighty ways, even miraculous, in this community as well as others,” said Gilroy resident Bill Habing, who has done ministry work with the poor.
He recalled one particular time when he was pastor at a church in Hollister that served dinner to about 200 needy residents each night. He and other church staff members prayed one day because they did not have any food for that evening. About a minute after they said, “Amen,” Marge Albaugh called to say she had a pickup-load of food for them.
“God would use her to save the day,” Habing said.
Marge Albaugh continued to make an impact on people’s lives even in retirement.
The staff at Looking Good Hair Salon, where Marge Albaugh regularly got her hair done by stylist Sally Garcia, recalled her friendly demeanor, her sweet spirit and the way in which she helped the community.
“I think her nickname was Mother Teresa,” said Loretta Ventura, one of the salon’s owners.
Albaugh would always greet folks at the salon with a kiss and a hug, she said.
Whether through work or in personal interactions, many people said they will remember her for her generosity.
“Her light shines so bright, and she was able to touch so many people,” Cox said.
