Mary Ann Albanes had a great sense of humor.
That is what colleague Pat Coyle, chair of child development, will remember about her most.
“Her sense of humor was great,” he said.
During the summer, Bakersfield College faculty and staff were shocked to hear Albanes, project director of child development, had died from drowning in her pool. According to the Anna Zaragoza of the Kern County Coroner’s office, the drowning was due to cardiac arrest.
“It was a tragedy. It cut deeply in my heart,” Coyle said.
He said he had a meeting with her just two days before.
“Everybody in the department is saddened that she’s gone. We’re functioning, though, and everything is going well,” Coyle said.
Coyle also said she was a “leader in child development” and was “well respected.”
Child Development professor Brenda Nyagwachi said Albanes was “very personable. She was well liked by her colleagues,” Nyagwachi said. “I thought of her as the uniter. She was the one who would get the department together.”
Nyagwachi said Albanes was very down to earth and was an all-around nice person.
She said students have been asking about her, and at her funeral students testified to what a role model she was.
Coyle said about 200 to 300 people who attended her funeral.
Zaragoza said so far this year there have been a total of four drownings in Kern County.