Terrell County New Leader 1.8.10
By KIM RAPP Production Manager

Remembering Albert ‘Al-B’ Peña

SANDERSON – Nieves Alberto Peña, also known as Albert and known to some as Al-B, passed away peacefully in his home last week.

To me, he will be remembered as someone you could count on for a smile. Apparently he was also known as a “prankster.”

Some locals knew Peña when he ran the Arroyo Grande Cantina, some remember him traveling the country as a truck driver with sidekick Nina Picasso and some remember him hauling our Eagles to football games, basketball games and wherever else they were going.

I once asked him why he did that and he simply smiled and said, “I love it.”

Sometimes, his love of traveling with the kids paid off for him, like when he got to attend a hockey game with the Odessa Jackalopes and found a carnival in the parking lot.

Peña also loved to cook and the more people who came to eat, the better he liked it.

Those who worked with Al-B also enjoyed the cooking of his mother, “Grandma Connie.”

At a beautiful memorial service this week, I learned that he also had a knack for “pushing people’s buttons, only to make them smile,” sister Susan Duarte said.

However you remember him, I bet it will be with a smile.


This was taken from the Sanderson Ex's Web Site:
Ada Lee & John Ed Robbins replied to Rocky McDonald's discussion 'A Tribute to Friends That Have Left Us Too Soon.'Albert Pena, Class of 1976, passed away at his home on December 31, 2009. Albert worked for the school as a bus driver and maintenance man. Albert always had a smile on his face and he loved the kids. He especially enjoyed driving for the band trips…yesterday

Obituary:
SANDERSON Nieves Alberto Peña, 52, of Sanderson, died Wednesday, December 30, 2009, in Sanderson.
He was born in Sanderson. Memorial will be at 5 p.m. Monday at St. James Catholic Church. Arrangements are by Memorial Funeral Home of Fort Stockton.

SURVIVORS Mother, Consuelo D. Carroll of Sanderson; brother, Emilio Martinez Jr. of Sanderson; Sisters, Rosalinda Garcia of Wichita Falls, Susan Duarte of Sanderson, Marilyn Chambers of Houston and Diane and Russell Woods of Richmond Texas.