The Life & Times of
Albert G. Daviou

Albert was born to Al and Evelyn (nee McElhone) Daviou in Hackensack, New Jersey, in the fall of 1948. He was the fourth of four children and the only boy amongst the four. He was baptized in the Lodi Christian Reformed Church, Lodi, New Jersey, on Sunday, December 21st of that year.

His childhood was unremarkable. He attended Passaic Christian School, Eastern Christian Junior High, and Eastern Christian High School in North Haledon, New Jersey. He graduated without honors. The private education was a gift from the small congregation at Lodi Christian Reformed Church to the family. He was interested in running, tennis, baseball and basketball throughout his childhood and teens.

Following high school he attended and graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1970. He degreed in Sociology with an eclectic minor. More importantly it was during this tumultuous time that he became active in civil rights issues.

After college Albert relocated in Denver, Colorado, where he worked on the psychiatric unit of a Denver hospital. It was during this time that he met Pat. Sparks flew. Also while in Denver he became involved with a small chapel located in the federal housing projects of Sun Valley and Las Casitas, and became involved with some of the local youth and gangs. He learned to cross country ski. This became his passion for the next twenty years of his life.

Pat and Albert moved to a small town in southeast Idaho, Blackfoot. They had been married at St. Michael’s by-the-Sea, Carlsbad, CA, diocese of San Diego. (Albert wore western style boots and a Pendleton shirt.) While working for the state in protective services and juvenile probation and parole, he also became aware of the world and culture of American Indians. The Blackfoot and Shoshone Indians lived on Ft. Hall reservation just outside of Blackfoot. Pat and Albert began collecting animals at this time in their lives with the appropriation of Wooly the Shropshire ewe.

They moved to central-mountain Idaho purchasing a home in Bellevue (pop. 500). Albert continued his work with the state. They added goats and chickens to their little farm. While in Bellevue they came to know a woman who, as a child, had moved from Nebraska to Montana in a Conestoga; she gave them a goat’s milk cheese recipe.

Pat was unable to find suitable employment in Idaho. She accepted a position as an Occupational Therapist in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, Albert worked for the school district in a classroom
for children with special needs, then for Barry County as director of a group home for teenage boys. At this time with the rector of Immanuel Church, Hastings, MI, he made a decision to pursue ordination. The process was affirming. During this time their two boys, Zac (1977) and Nick (1979) were born.

Pat and Albert moved to Evanston, Illinois, where he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and she worked at Chicago Rehab. Institute. After seminary Albert accepted the position as rector of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Fremont, Michigan (Gerber Baby Food), and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Newaygo (an old lumber town on the Muskegon River).

He served for four years in this capacity. While there, St. John’s Church founded the CROP Walk against hunger. This walk has grown to the second largest hunger walk in western Michigan.

Albert was called to be Associate Rector at St. Mark’s Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Pat was working at Mary Free Bed Hospital nearby and fifty miles from their Fremont home, so this was an easy decision to make. They served there for just over four years before coming to Atlanta.

They moved to Atlanta so that Pat could work at Shepherd Center on Peachtree where she still is. Albert has served Holy Innocents Episcopal School, Church of the Annunciation, Marietta, St. Peter’s, Rome, and now St. Elizabeth’s Church, Dahlonega. They hope to remain here for some time.