Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991                   TAG: 9104120604
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY  
SOURCE: Paul Dellinger
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TED ALBERTS

At New River Community College, his feet are firmly on the ground - in a welding laboratory, where he is one of the few welding instructors around with a master's degree.

But since the summer of 1987, he has found a way to get into outer space after hours. He was delighted to learn of Dublin's D.C. Wysor Observatory shortly after coming here, and got in touch with the curator for a tour. So enthusiastic was he that the volunteer curator said, "Well, here. Here's my key. You be the curator."

So he is.

\ Name: Ted Alberts.

\ Age: 47.

\ Current residence: Dublin.

\ Hometown: Chicago.

\ Where educated: Northern Illinois University - Bachelor of science degree in education, master's degree in industry and technology.

\ Marital status: Wife, Bonnie, 45.

\ Children: Joshua, 19, and Matthew, 17.

\ Occupation: Welding instructor, New River Community College.

\ If you weren't that, what would you rather be? "I'd probably be in some field of astronomy somewhere. Either that, or a farmer. I like to garden."

\ What's the worst job you ever had? Loading and unloading trucks on a Chicago dock. "It was mindless work but it was physically exhausting." It also helped him decide to get an education so he could get a better job.

\ When not working, what do you like to do? Amateur astronomy, of course. "And I play some golf."

\ What brought you to the New River Valley?: An ad in Welding Journal advertising the New River Community College position. He was low man on the totem pole among six instructors at a Texas-size welding laboratory and decided to seek greener pastures before the drop in oil prices affected the Texas economy to the point of layoffs.

\ What do you like the most about living here? "The beauty of the country and the friendliness of the people."

\ What do you like least?: It used to be trying to understand how people talked. "I'm a Yankee and initially, when I came here, there were a lot of people I just couldn't understand. But now I understand their lingo."

\ Favorite spot in the New River Valley: The Blue Ridge Parkway.

\ What change would most improve the valley? "I really wouldn't change anything," except end the recession if he could.

\ What's the best thing that ever happened to you? "Marrying my wife." They will celebrate their 25th anniversary in December.

\ What's the worst?: Almost drowning when he and five other teen-agers went canoeing in treacherous waters in Illinois.

\ What's the dumbest thing you ever did? Attempting plumbing chores at which he has no skill, he said as he lit a cigarette. Then he looked at the cigarette in his hand. "This! This is the dumbest thing I do."

\ What changed your life? A professor at Northern Illinois, Roy Hulfachor , who taught welding technology. Alberts started working at age 11 for his father, a tool and die maker, and planned to be a machine shop instructor. But Hulfachor was one of those people who inspires students, and Alberts changed his entire educational direction.