Alberta was born in Hannibal, MO at the turn of the century. She worked at a shoe factory in Hannibal, MO from the time she was 13 or 14. She told stories about she & sister Loan (Lenora) who both worked at the shoe factory. They got paid for each pair of shoes they made – but they could not be done shoddily. She told how Loan was much faster than she was. She also talked about her brother who she called Buster.
She delivered milk when she was young. Her Grandmother and her Father raised her after her mother died when she was 10 years old.
She married Roger Locke in 1915. They had 2 children Lester and Wilma Elizabeth.
In 1930 they moved to Kingman, AZ where they worked for Rogers step-brother who owned the S&M Garage and the S & S Auto Court on Route 66. Alberta ran the Auto Court until about 1946. She and Roger had Divorced in the mid 30;s and he moved to Chino, Ca. Friends built her a house and from 1946 to 1954 she worked for the Phone Company. Then all the calls were made by turning the arm on the phone to get the operator. She moved to Concord in 1954 and bought a house. It was a small house but she had lots of roses and a small back yard. No matter where she lived she loved roses. She got a job cooking for the Concord school district hot lunch program. She worked at various schools and took great pride in the food she put out. She made sure nobody misbehaved in the lunch room. She retired after 10 years and did a lot of traveling and had a full life. In 1987 she moved to Sparks, NV and lived with her Grandson Jerry Smith and his wife until her death in 1991. She was a wonderful person with many stories about how it was in the good old days. She was loved and is missed. She left her son Lester, daughter Wilma, 7 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren behind.