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Al Summey retired Educator and
Natural Sciences Major.
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by Sarah Williams
Knowing a person who owns a beautiful spirit is one of the joys of living. Albert “Al” Summey is such a person. He seems to see goodness in everybody, which some people attribute to the goodness within him.
Al was born and reared in Hendersonville, the son of the late Olivia and James Summey. He attended Hendersonville’s segregated Ninth Avenue High School, where he found a close, attentive faculty and fellow students. For him, as for many others, far from damaging his psyche or abilities, the segregated schools he attended offered a solid education. The “village” model of child-rearing was true of his neighborhood, and he says, “Today that mentality seems to be lost.”
As a youth, Al’s
admiration for George Washington Carver motivated him to enroll at the
prestigious Tuskegee Institute, where he hoped to study natural
science. But as a child he had developed an eye disease, keratoconus,
that ultimately left him legally blind. (He tried contact lenses, but
they ruptured his cornea. Light caused him pain, as if needles were
piercing his eyes.) Because of his condition, he was constrained to
leave Tuskegee and attend a college closer to home. He transferred to
Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, where he earned his BS degree in
natural science.
Later Al
landed a job with Model Cities in Asheville. One day a young lady,
Jacqueline Avery, applied for a job there. He asked her to lunch, she
accepted, and after two years of dates, they married. Jackye Summey is
now retired from the Asheville City School System; they have three
children, Maleigh, Beth, and Albert Jr.
Al has
been plagued by several illnesses, but has been able to maintain an
optimistic outlook. Not long ago he did an interview with Dr. Ronald
Caldwell on WRES entitled “Positive Attitude,” meant to encourage
people who live with poor health to try to find contentment. When asked
why he felt that people think highly of him, Al hesitated, then said,
“I don’t know. I haven’t contributed to the community that much, but
when you give respect, it’s usually returned.” He gave the credit of
his kindness to his father who was a good role model.
Asked
about his proudest moment, he says, I’m proud of my past, because I was
a good track and basketball athlete. People recognized my skills in
those sports, and I became a two-letter man. Another thing that stands
out in my mind is that I did a workshop with Yolanda King.”
With the
support of his family and friends he finds comfort, and is able to move
beyond himself in order to bring joy into other people’s lives. His
advice to young men who hope to become fathers and young men who are
fathers is, “Be responsible and have respect for yourself and others.”
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