Man who built OCC dies at 84

Deirdre Newman

He transformed the Santa Ana Army Air Base into Orange Coast College

in less time than it takes to carry a baby. And he did it with the

help of amateurs -- 35 students, who were not trained in carpentry

and were paid only 60 cents per hour.

Fran Albers, a 61-year Costa Mesa resident, died Sunday. He was

84.

“Fran was just a great guy,” said OCC spokesman Jim Carnett, whose

office was close to Albers’. “He was such a loyal employee. He loved

Orange Coast and put his whole life into this place.”

Hired as the college’s carpenter on Feb. 1, 1948, Albers was given

only eight-and-a-half months to get the campus ready for classes in

the fall. He and his crew turned barracks into classrooms, offices

and lecture halls.

One of the biggest challenges was turning the air base service

club into a college gym. That gym was used by OCC athletes for 13

years. It was moved to Vanguard University in 1962, where it is still

in use.

Albers worked for OCC for 33 years, until his retirement in 1981.

He was campus carpenter for the first year, then served as director

of maintenance and operations for 32 years.

During the construction of the campus, Albers worked 10 to 12

hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. He and his crew

would tear lumber out of buildings that were going to be demolished

and saved all the used nails.

John Jeffers, who worked with Albers for about 20 years, said

Albers was the ideal boss.

“He stood behind his men,” said Jeffers, who retired as

maintenance supervisor. “I know when we started bickering between

ourselves, he would sit us down at the table and say, ‘We’re a family

and we better get along.’”

Once the campus was up and running, OCC students built a house on

campus for Albers and his family, said daughter Connie Miller. As

maintenance chief, Albers was on call 24 hours a day, every day. He

lived on campus for 31 years and three of his four daughters were

born there. His eldest daughter, Janet, died of cancer when she was

six.

His three other daughters -- Miller, Karen Rangitsch, and Nanci

Thissel -- grew up in the campus home and attended OCC.

“It was a superb place to grow up and be kids,” Miller said. “The

front lawn was about half a block. We would just go out there and

play.”

Miller said her father embodied a lot positive attributes.

“He was generous and he thought of everyone else first before

himself,” she said. “He was a strong-willed, strong person. He was

kind, giving, all those things.”

Albers died on May 30 -- his late wife Ila Jean’s birthday. A

memorial for both of them will be placed on campus later this year.

Fran Albers received an honorary OCC associates degree in 1992.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.