Anthony Thomas Albano

Anthony Thomas Albano; lovingly known as Tony, passed away on November 19, 2020 in Las Vegas Nevada.  Tony was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Alfonso and Annunziata Calabrese Albano on March 26, 1935.

Tony is preceded in death by his father and mother; Alfonso and Annunziata; his three brothers Joseph, Michael, and Alfonso; his sister Angelina; and his grandchildren Wendy White, and Ryan Edwards.

Tony is survived by his wife Beverly; his four daughters and their spouses Nancy and Sajol Ghoshal, Annette Goetz, Carolyn Edwards, and Theresa and Steve Bailey; his grandchildren Steven Schinkel, Jason Edwards, Leah Edwards, Jennifer Bailey, Anthony Bailey, Stephanie Goetz; and great-grandchildren Brooklyn McGee, Steven Schinkel, and Camden Edwards; and great great-grandchild Atrayu McGee.

As a young boy Tony sought every opportunity to make money.  His mother would let him stay home from school on snow days to shovel snow.  He pedaled his bike across the state line to buy fireworks which he brought home and sold for a profit.  He worked for Milton Bradley deflating balls to be packaged for sale; sold seeds door to door, picked tobacco, and was a soda fountain jerk.  In 1953, Tony enlisted in the Air Force as a radar operator – what Tony called a Scope Dope because he tracked aircraft on a monitor. 

He married his young bride Beverly Jean Swift on July 30, 1956 in Ypsilanti, Michigan and whisked her off to his new duty station in Albuquerque, NM.  Through their 64 years of marriage their love song was "Unchained Melody".  "My love, my darling, I hunger for your touch…"  They traveled from one state to another with his military career making wonderful memories and friends along the way.

During his 20 years in the Air Force, Tony cross trained into a brand new career field in computers where he excelled in computer repair and programming.  He moved from base to base teaching computer skills to troops across the country.  Tony spent one year in Thule Air Base in Greenland where he stood up the Air Force’s command center monitoring long-range radar for Soviet bombers and nuclear missiles.  While at Thule, Tony started a pizza business that was a hit with his Airmen.  The theme of “Anthony's Pizza” caught on, and today there’s an Anthony’s Pizza in just about every Air Force Base around the world.  Coincidence?, who knows. 

After his retirement from the Air Force; his computer skills led him to a new career with Xerox in California, and later Honeywell in Arizona.  Where he retired for a second time in 1991, when he moved to Las Vegas to pursue his love of playing poker which was passed on to him from his father.  There he found a new home in the Prince of Peace Catholic Church community.

Tony has been a devoted Catholic all his life and devoted many hours to the church.  No matter where he lived; he was always involved in the church.  He was a life time member of the Knights of Columbus, and delivered food to the hungry.  For more than 30 years he has belonged to Prince of Peace Catholic Church.  For many years he organized their firework annual fund raiser.  For their the annual Autumn Festival, he invented booths made out of pipes that could be taken apart, stacked like a puzzle, and then put back together.  He was lead usher at the 4:00 mass for a number of years.  He volunteered as a handyman whenever anything at the church needed to be done.

Funeral services are currently postponed until further notice.

We little Knew
that morning that God
was going to call your name.
In life we loved you dearly,
In death we do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you,
You did not go alone;
for part of us went with you,
the day God called you home.
You left us peaceful memories,
Your love is still our guide:
And though we cannot see you,
You are always at our side.
Our family chain is broken,
And nothing seems the same;
But as God calls us one by one,
The chain will link again.