Jim Albertson

Jim Albertson was born February 3, 1947 in Somerset, Kentucky to Wilbur and Juanita Albertson. His childhood in Somerset was filled with family, friends, go carts, sleigh riding, fishing and all the typical joys of being a boy. When he was young, he started a business called “Jimmy’s Trading Post” which his father bought from him and operated for years. He filled Juanita’s freezer with turkeys from turkey shoots, and won numerous awards in the NRA. His piano lessons were a failure, but tennis was not. He loved to play tennis, and was quite successful. As a Briar Jumper (SHS c/o 65) he was excited about taking Don Stone and Coach Clark to fishing creek where they always caught lots of brim and bass.

As an art major at the University of Kentucky, he received numerous accolades for his large abstract paintings. Winning the “under graduate research and creativity award” gave him his own studio in the Reynolds building. He was a Cats basketball fan long before his time at UK.

Instead of a career in art, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida and began a teaching career that would last 35 years, teaching art, performing arts, and photography. Never one to fit the mold, he also coached 5A football and tennis, and even sponsored cheerleaders one year. He was student activities director, no small task in a large senior high school.

For about 20 years, he and his wife Donna, lived on their sailboat, with long range plans for sailing away upon retirement. Thankfully, they were able to do that, but in 1992 fell in love with an island in the Bahamas, Man-O-War, where they spent a great part of their retirement for 20 years. The sailboat was traded for a trawler, but the living in paradise didn’t change until Hurricane Dorian, covid, and other circumstances kept them from returning. Jimmy and Donna continued to enjoy their boat in Florida, situated in a marina on A1A, between the Atlantic and Intracoastal Waterway.

Jimmy and Donna now live in Somerset, and are members of First Baptist Church, where he grew up and was baptized as a pre-teen. He and Donna would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this September, but his life here ended July 24. There will be no funeral, at his request, since his friends and family are so widespread.

Most importantly, Jimmy’s life was lived with uncompromising integrity.  His teaching and coaching was evidence of what a loving heart he had, receiving more satisfaction from helping others to have success than in his own accomplishments. His faith in God was steadfast.