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Gertrudes “Lourdes” (Nuñez) Albrecht, 73, of Benson, Arizona, died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday, January 16, 2021, at the family home in Benson, Arizona. Lourdes was born March 18, 1947 to Santos and Pilar (Gabon) Nuñez in Amaga, Southern Leyte, in the Republic of the Philippines. The eldest of sixteen children, she was required to leave elementary school to help raise her siblings and assist with domestic duties. To continue supporting her family, she left her hometown of Padre Burgos to find work as a seamstress and housekeeper in Olongapo City. She married Steven Albrecht on January 2, 1972 in Olongapo City, in the Philippines. They wed shortly after Steven was reassigned to a US Navy harbor tug at the Subic Bay – Cubi Point Naval Complex. Months earlier, the couple met while on a double blind-date – Steven, a Sailor on the USS Midway at the time, was on shore leave during a port of call in Olongapo City. After the wedding, Lourdes and Steven made their first home together in Olongapo City. As the Vietnam War was winding down, so was Steven’s enlistment in the US Navy; in February 1973, he returned to the US to be discharged from the US Navy. Months later, in June 1973, Lourdes immigrated to the United States and reunited with her husband. The couple settled down on a small farm near North Loup, Nebraska, to start their family. In 1978, they moved to Iowa so Steven could enter the ministry and attend Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa. Upon graduation, the family moved to southeast Iowa where Steven became the ordained minister at the First Baptist Church, in Bloomfield, Iowa. Over the next 15 years, the ministry moved the couple from southeast Iowa, to central California, and then southeast Alaska. During that time, Lourdes worked as a homemaker, teacher’s aide, and a bakery worker. After Steven retired from the pastoral ministry in 1997, he and Lourdes moved to Wasilla, Alaska, where they built a small cabin-style home. In 1999, Lourdes began a satisfying 17-year career as a Wal-Mart Associate at the Wasilla, Alaska, store location. In 2005, the couple traded Alaska for Arizona, moving first to Prescott, then Sahuarita, before settling in Benson, Arizona. During her tenure at Wal-Mart Lourdes held a variety of positions but perhaps was best known as the always-smiling cashier when she retired from the Benson, Arizona, store location in 2016. Lourdes’ hobbies included recreational fishing, off-roading, firearms shooting, geocaching, camping, and scrapbooking. She also enjoyed travel and cooking and often watched television shows that featured international travel and cuisine. She stayed connected with friends and loved ones around the world via Facebook and long phone conversations. Lourdes was preceded in death by her father, Santos Nuñez; and nine siblings – Virgilio Nuñez, Crisencia Nuñez, Carolina Nuñez, Gregorio Nuñez, Maria Paz Nuñez, Agnesia Ortega, Maria Salome Nuñez, Maria Magdelena Nuñez, and Arnaldo Nuñez. She is survived by her husband, Steven Albrecht of Benson, Arizona; their three children, Michael (Sarah) Albrecht of Box Elder, South Dakota; Lisa (Justin) Dooley of San Antonio, Texas; Mark (Heather) Albrecht of Tucson, Arizona; and six siblings in the Philippines – Camillo Nuñez, Martino Nuñez, Eulogelio Nuñez, Candelaria Nuñez, Elma Bongcawel and Enrile Nuñez. She is the ever-loving grandmother to eleven grandchildren and a host of loving nieces, nephews, and distant kinfolk. Online condolences may be submitted at https://www.LourdesAlbrecht.remembered.com/
